Greystone Farm Family Has Deep Roots in N.H. Town

As it turns out, you can go home again. Just ask Russell Ingram.

Or his daughter, Joan.

They are neighbors at Greystone Farm at Salem, located in the New Hampshire town where Russell was raised and returned to after a successful career.

The two generations of Ingrams are just two doors down from the other. This makes it easy to visit every day, where father and daughter can reflect on a life well lived in a community that has long appreciated the Ingrams.

“We are lucky to have Greystone,” says Russell.

And Greystone is lucky to have them.

Joan arrived at Greystone Farm a decade ago, with her father following her five years later. For the past five years, they have enjoyed this unique and ideal arrangement.

“We see each other every day,” says Joan, with a genuine sense of joy, mixed with a dash of pride.

Russell Ingram was raised in Salem. It is where he did all the things that kids do. It is where he went to high school, along with his future wife, Roberta. It’s where Russell first worked – for, as he recalls – about 10 cents per hour.

“I did anything,” says Russell. “I remember pulling weeds.”

Russell was always a worker. As adolescence shifted into adulthood, it became apparent that he also had a keen understanding of money and how it worked. It was a skill set that would fuel a career in finance and banking. In fact, it was a job opportunity – or series of them – that pulled Russell away from Salem, delivering him some 170 miles to the north in Colebrook. It’s a town in Coos County, New Hampshire, situated in the Great North Woods Region, less than 10 miles from the Canadian border.

Russell and Roberta, affectionally known as “Bobbi,” would marry and raise three children in Colebrook. It was a good life. Russell’s penchant for understanding money meant one opportunity after another, capped off by a long tenure as a bank president.

Three decades later, amidst a new world of mergers and acquisitions, Russell embraced retirement. Russell and Bobbi knew just where that new chapter in their lives would be written. They packed their things and headed back from where they came, happily making the three-hour ride to Salem. The spirited Bobbi told Russell, “Now it’s my time.”

Russell laughs at that memory.

Now 97, Russell is in good health and gets along just fine with the help of a walker. Home is Greystone Farm, where according to Russell, “the people are nice, and the food is good.”

Of course, the chapters that preceded his move to Greystone were busy ones. Russell’s return to Salem was marked by achievements fitting a man determined to not only to be a part of things, but to be a leader. He served for eight years as a member of the New Hampshire House of Representatives, as well as many years on the board of the Boys and Girls Club of Salem. He and “Bobbi” were always a fixture in the community.

In 2002, the Ingrams donated $500,000 to help found a senior center on Sally Sweets Way. Russell has always called “The Ingram Senior Center” his most satisfying achievement.

Bobbi died in 2010, at 82.

“She was a wonderful woman,” says Russell.

Father and daughter do their own things at Greystone Farm.

Russell keeps busy too. His health is good. His mind is sharp.

“As long as I have that, I don’t mind getting old,” he says. “I follow my securities and investments,” says Russell. “I watch the markets. I’m very proud of myself. Every security I own has a capital gain.”

Joan, who had retired from her job at a local hospital, is a games and crafts enthusiast. She is never at a loss for things to do. The staff is always accommodating, says Joan.

“Everybody is like family here,” says Joan. “It feels like home.”

Because it is.

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Greystone Farm at Salem