Set on a hill overlooking green fields on the busy Main Street of Abingdon, Jubilee House, a Catholic retreat and conference center, is marking its 25th year with a bittersweet changeover.
After 13 years of managing the Jubilee House, Bob Vaughan and his wife, Karen, retired a few weeks ago. A new director, Jessica Edwards, is now managing the retreat center and the hiring process is underway.
“Bob and Karen have worked here now for so many years,” said JoAnn Detta, who served on the building committee for the Jubilee House. “Thanks to them and their gentle presence and their hospitality, they’re well known in the community.”
Bob came in 2012, promising to stay at least two years, and stayed for more than dozen. A Navy veteran with years of experience in coordination and organization, Bob supervised bookings and maintenance. For the last decade, Karen had overseen the cooking, cleaning, and landscaping.
“I had 30 years’ worth of recipes to try out on people, so you know, that’s what I’ve been doing,” she said.
A few weeks before his retirement, Bob could be seen in his office, brandishing a calendar filled with reservations.
“We have a lot of individuals come in, like deacons or ministers, to do the planning for the next year, and they just want to be isolated – no phones, no alarm clocks, no TVs in the room,” he said. “We have tranquility and silence here, and a good prayer life, and people find peace when they come here.”
Owned and operated by the Diocese of Richmond, Jubilee House broke ground April 15, 2000, and was dedicated just a year later. “I believe we as a Church have to give back to the community,” said then-Bishop Walter F. Sullivan at the ceremony. “May Jubilee House always be a sign and source of unity and hope to all.”
“He put a lot of faith in the people in the region that this would work,” said Marty Huber, who also served on the building committee. “From the beginning, he wanted it to be for everyone, for the community, for various kinds of events and activities, not just for the Catholic parishes.”
Construction of the timber and stone lodges and meeting center began in a jubilee year, so the name seemed timely. The complex has 20 rooms that can accommodate 38 guests; a hostel section has hosted youth groups as large as 80, said Bob.
Visitors have also included teachers, families holding reunions or wedding receptions and members of ElderSpirit, an Abingdon community for people 55 and older. The Catholic Campus Ministry at Virginia Tech drops in from time to time.
For Bob and Karen, one of the rewards of managing Jubilee House was meeting such a variety of guests.
During the last week in March, a group of women who call themselves the Crafty Chicks was making one of their semi-annual appearances. Taking some time away from spouses and families, they come to knit, paint, and make scrapbooks.
“We love it here,” said crafter Diane Weston. “It’s quiet, it’s peaceful, and in the fall, with the trees all different colors, it’s beautiful.”
Detta and Huber remain grateful for the commitment of the diocese to its only retreat center in southwest Virginia at a time when it is hard to keeping places like it open.
In the last few years, Shalom House in Hanover County was sold and is now a wedding venue and conference center. Two retreat centers in Isle of Wight County and Lynchburg closed. A long table from one of those retreat centers made its way to the dining area at Jubilee House, and plenty of visitors continue to show up to eat, pray and share in God’s love.
“People say they can feel God’s presence here,” Karen said.