Scott Gessay has finished a morning round on The Oconee course. “I ran a 15- foot birdie putt past the 18th hole,” he says of the most challenging hole on the property. He found peace with par, though, after joining his wife, Mary, on their terrace overlooking Lake Oconee. Later they’ll deliver 45 meals to workers at St. Mary’s Hospital. “There’s always something to do,” says Mary. They weren’t saying that after selling their software company in Reston, Virginia, four years ago. They’d raised two children, leaving them with the age-old question: Now what?
We retired young. Our friends in Virginia were still working. You can only do so many hikes on the Appalachian Trail. [Scott] I spent a lot of time arranging and rearranging basement shelves. [Mary] And then I had to make sure he didn’t throw anything away that I needed out of boredom.
Reynolds was on our minds since 2012. [Scott] I’d looked at homes here online long before selling the company. Then I’d think about them when I was in the car to do business in Baltimore or D.C. Just imagining what it must be like to live here.
