Published: January 6, 2026
Kendal at Oberlin is home to more than 300 people in their 60s and well beyond. They come from near (Oberlin and Cleveland) and far (Hawaii, Canada and elsewhere). The residents share many common values, such as sustainability and lifelong learning, and many have ties to Oberlin College. But each resident has his or her own unique story.
Meet Naomi Miller
A resident of Portland, Oregon, Naomi Miller was introduced to the Greater Cleveland area during visits over the years with friends Terry and Charlotte McGowan. The McGowans moved to Kendal at Oberlin six years ago and Naomi’s geographic focus changed too.
Now celebrating her first anniversary at Kendal, Naomi is amazed at all she is discovering as a Northern Ohio resident.
“Cleveland is a really cool city and I really like Oberlin,” she says, listing some of her favorite destinations – Cleveland’s vibrant live theater and music scene, Oberlin’s quaint downtown and nearby farmers markets, to name just a few.
And Kendal at Oberlin?
“My husband died in 2019, I don’t have any kids. I’m relatively young – 68 – and in good health and so I was looking for a place where I could make new friends and get care if I needed it someday” she says.
At Kendal she enjoys swimming in the indoor pool, lifting weights, taking yoga classes and gardening. “I had a plot in Kendal’s community garden and grew the most fabulous tomatoes,” she says.
She’s still “working”
Naomi spent her career in the lighting industry – that’s how she met lighting engineer Terry McGowan – and while she now volunteers her time she spends about half of her time “working” on lighting issues.
“I’m continuing to work on eradicating LED flicker from the face of the earth because it is not just distracting and annoying, but a health issue in some individuals. I lead an international discussion with the International Commission on Illumination, mostly on ZOOM, to address this issue. This is my focus right now, so I don’t have a lot of free time to spend on Kendal committees and projects,” she says
One lighting project underway at Kendal is reducing light pollution on the campus, which is being spearheaded by Terry McGowan. Kendal hopes to become the first retirement community certified as a Dark Sky Place by DarkSky International.
“A noble effort,” says Naomi, who is not working on that project but has been recruited to help address a couple of lighting issues in the Stephens Care Center and the remodeled dining rooms.
When Naomi is not busy on lighting issues, she likes to venture near and far. She regularly drives to Cleveland to attend performances and visit museums, with a stop in Little Italy or Old Cleveland for funky restaurants, and next year has plans to travel to San Francisco and Spain. She loves exploring Oberlin (“I’m not an Oberlin graduate, although I was accepted in 1974. Does that count?” she likes to joke.) and other small towns in Ohio, and this spring got a taste of the spectacular bird migration when a friend invited her to Lake Erie shoreline hotspots.
Along with gardening, Naomi enjoys cooking and inviting new friends over to share a meal.
“It was agony to get rid of half of my possessions, but I survived and really like having a smaller place,” says Naomi, who shares a two-bedroom cottage with her 20-year-old fluffy orange cat, Ghee.
