Michael Coffman has only lived in Sycamore Reserve Senior Living for approximately five months, but he is already making an impact for residents.
Coffman helped start a men’s group, which meets once a week.
“It’s in its fledgling stage,” Coffman said. “We get anywhere from four to six men. When the women ask what we talk about, we tell them ‘Stuff.’”
Coffman, 82, moved from Warren Township on the east side of Indianapolis to Sycamore Reserve five months ago.
Coffman’s wife, Kay, died 6 1/2 years ago. They had been married nearly 55 years.
“This was the right move to make,” Coffman said of Sycamore Reserve. “The apartments are really nice. I have a patio. The staff here is phenomenal. The amenities are very good. The people that work here are extremely friendly and easy to get along with.”
Coffman was in the retail business for 38 years. He was a store manager for Venture Stores for 17 years. Venture Stores closed in 1998.
After being semi-retired for a few years, he returned to work in store management for Big Lots in Indianapolis for six years, retiring again in 2012.
“I missed working, so I went back to what I knew, which is the retail business,” Coffman said. “I like the excitement of it. I like being able to work with a lot of people. It was a very rewarding business. It was hard. I worked a lot of hours.”
Coffman enjoyed hiring and promoting staffers.
“Selling wasn’t the important part, it was the people that worked for me, seeing them perform and get promoted,” Coffman said.
Two of Coffman’s daughters, Cathy and Vicki, live in Indianapolis, and his other daughter, Lisa, lives in Plymouth, Minn. He has four grandchildren.
A Warren Central High School graduate, Coffman played basketball at the Indianapolis high school and later played recreationally.
“I was out of state for 20-some years and moved back home,” he said.
Coffman, who also worked in the Chicago suburb of Country Club Hills, Ill., also coached his daughter Lisa’s fastpitch softball team.
A self-described huge college basketball fan, Coffman has been a fan of Butler University’s team for 17 years.
