This season of thanks highlights an extraordinary reunion at Arbor Acres. Two women—friends since their college days—found each other again after 65 years apart, proving that life has a way of bringing hearts back together.
Camille Smith of Selma, Alabama, and Nancy Dennis of Lynchburg, Virginia, first met at Salem College in the 1950s. They bonded over shared experiences and Kappa Sigma dates, and after graduation, Camille briefly lived with Nancy in Winston-Salem while preparing for marriage. Their apartment had a memorable quirk: the only entrance was up a fire escape!
Life soon carried them in different directions. Camille pursued a career first in social work and later psychotherapy, before eventually moving to Arbor Acres in 2013. Nancy’s adventurous spirit led her to Europe, where she worked in hospitals in London and Copenhagen as a medical technologist before returning to the U.S. and later settling at Arbor Acres in 2023.
In 2024, a chance meeting in the Therapy Clinic erased decades in an instant. Camille approached a woman on the parallel bars and asked, “Are you Nancy Gwaltney?” Recognition was immediate, and laughter followed. “We haven’t changed,” Nancy said. “We still look the same to each other!”
Neither planned to return to Winston-Salem, much less reconnect. Today, they are neighbors and inseparable friends once more. Their message to others?
“Value your relationships—and follow your heart.”
