PENDLETON — As morning peeked its head through the clouds Sunday, Aug. 1, Rolly and Carol Biegler woke up on their last day as owners of the Sun Ridge Retirement Community, after nearly 16 years serving Pendleton, to follow their own dreams of retirement and becoming full-time grandparents.

The Bieglers bought the retirement community at 3234 S.W. Nye Ave. on the steps of the Umatilla County Courthouse in August 2005. They had been looking at retiring for a while but needed to find someone younger who would follow their goals of keeping it family-oriented. They needed someone who would have the energy to keep up with the business, keep it as a retirement community and take care of the patrons.

This is when they found Bill Bent, a senior housing investor and life coach from Colorado who had a near-death experience seven-and-a-half years ago and was in the hospital for 10 months.

“Once I was discharged, I wasn’t fully functional,” Bent said. “I had pretty serious cognitive impairments and then I went through a recovery cycle of doing a lot of different alternative therapy.”

This experience changed his perspective, and he said he became more opportunistic about what could help people. He said this led him into executive and life coaching and a desire to help others.

He wasn’t looking to get involved with senior housing but was introduced to Sun Ridge through its listing agent, Haven Senior Investments, where Bent serves as partner and chief operating officer.

“The more I looked at Sun Ridge and the more I got educated on Pendleton, I felt very comfortable that it would be a good place for me to support,” Bent said.

While Haven Senior Investments will be overseeing and managing Sun Ridge, according to Bent the daily operations will mostly be handled by Kelly Parker, who has already been filling in for the Bieglers whenever they’ve left town and will become general manager on Aug. 16.

While this is Bent’s first retirement community, Rolly Biegler said he felt good about the transition and Bent’s abilities. Biegler said the new company has been trying to keep them as close to it as possible and they will continue to help run the community for the next month or so.

Additionally, there also will be two assistant managers who have been there for about 15 years and will continue in their roles as assistant managers. Because of this, Bent said there will be good continuity from Rolly and Carol’s leadership because the team mostly is staying the same.

Bent said he had one goal: to take the culture the Bieglers developed and make it similar but, if possible, better.

“Rolly and Carol did an exceptional job,” Bent said.

Rolly Biegler did not disclose the sale price. Umatilla County records show it has an assessed value of about $2.4 million. It’s completely self-contained and has independent apartments with kitchens, along with six more private cottages. When it went up for auction in 2005, the Bieglers outbid Dan Pinkos of Glen Ellyn, Illinois, for $572,000 in 2005, according to East Oregonian archives.

The facility went up for auction in 2005 after the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development foreclosed it due to the owner’s debts to HUD, which did not release the amount of debt.

According to Debbie McNeal, the manager at the time, only about one-third of the apartments had been filled and HUD had prohibited renting more apartments after it had been foreclosed.

But, since buying the business, Rolly Biegler said he and his wife have been able to keep it about 90-92% full for the most part. And the number hasn’t really changed during the COVID-19 pandemic, where they haven’t had a single case in the facility.

Bent is planning on putting in a new roof on the main building because it is 50 years old and then spruce up the place a little further. But, while the new owners are trying to keep the Bieglers close, “To say it’s gonna be exactly the same as before is kinda impossible,” Rolly Biegler said.

As for the structure for residents and activities, everything will be kept similar except when they find “further services or activities that would be beneficial,” Bent said.

“Last thing I want is anybody going into a senior housing facility feeling like they’re being tucked away there to wait to pass away,” Bent said. “I want to help them feel purposeful and connected to the community.”

And, for Rolly and Carol Biegler’s transition into retirement, Bent said he was “honored to have the opportunity to be a support of them to move on to that part of life.”

Rolly Biegler said he has never made a decision that’s affected so many people in his life.

“It’s sad because it’s a new change in their lives,” he said. “A new change in our life.”

He said they were looking forward to their own retirement and the community has been supportive of their decision — especially as they’re all retired themselves. Additionally, he wanted to thank the community for their support over the years, the people who have helped with maintenance, their vendors and the people of Pendleton for their support.

“Without them,” Rolly Biegler said, “we couldn’t have done it.”