After 27 years of selling the dream, Savary realtor relaxes in paradise
It’s her time now MUST BE NICE... RETIREMENT ON SAVARY: But Juanita Chase really, really earned it.
BY ISABELLE SOUTHCOTT
For the last 27 years, Juanita Chase has answered the phone with, “Hello, Savary Coast Realty.” These days she simply says hello. On December 31, Juanita retired. She spends her days enjoying the island she fell in love with 42 years ago. Back in 1978, Juanita and her late husband Brian lived in Southern California. Brian, a Canadian, wanted to move to BC. “We were looking for a business
to buy,” says Juanita. “Brian’s cousin was a realtor in Comox and he saw that the Royal Savary Hotel was for sale. He put a deposit on it and told us we had to fly up that weekend and look at it.” Juanita loved the island instantly. The bond she felt with Savary was something she’d experienced only once before in her life – when her daughter Gina was born. Although Savary was love at first sight, Juanita had some reservations about the hotel. The Royal Savary was a summer business and they were viewing it in the off-season. “It was in winter disarray; there was mold on the counters,” Juanita recalls. But the clincher was the ancient wringer-washer sitting in the basement. Juan-
ita took one look at that washer and went outside to cry. “I sat on a log and said: ‘How am I supposed to do hotel linens for 25 rooms in that?” Yet Juanita was ready to make a change and leave smoggy Southern California behind her. With a Master’s degree in education – she’d taught primary school and reading at St. Bernardino Valley College – Juanita and Brian wanted something different but Juanita hadn’t envisioned it would include a wringer washer and a clothesline for hotel laundry. “Brian’s cousin said he’d go in on the hotel with us,” said Juanita. “His lovely French wife Marielle said she’d look after the kitchen with me.” And just like that, they bought the hotel.
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Powell River Living • February 2021 •
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