Kate Gill, Board Member

Kate Grew up in Hartford and worked 30+ years in advertising in NYC. She bought her home in Guilford 25 years ago and always planned to retire here. Since moving full time to Guilford, she discovered the Village and how it redefines the way people can age in their homes in a supportive community. She wants to do all she can to keep the Shoreline Village flourishing as a strong social network of support for older people at home.

Kate is also on the Board of the WB Yeats Society of NYC plus a professional playwright and member of the Dramatists Guild.

The New York Times endorses the expansion of the Village movement as one way to fill the void left by the absence of a broad public program to help kinless seniors age at home.

“In the absence of any broad public program, experts suggest a variety of smaller solutions to support kinless seniors…the Village movement, which helps seniors age in place, might (similarly) expand.” (The New York Times, 12/3/22)

Board Members and Officers

Kate Gill, Co-President

Camille Solbrig, Co-Presidient

Board Members

Maryann Bracken
George duPont
Jennifer Cruet
Mary Jo Longstreth  

Camille Solbrig, Board Member

Born in Chicago, but attending high school and college in PA, Camille has resided in Guilford now for over 20 years. She is a chemist married to a biologist with 2 grown sons, one of which is a new parent.



Camille’s work-life was spent as a researcher/product engineer before transitioning to her current work as an adjunct professor.  She chaired the New Haven Section of the American Chemical Society and has served on the boards of the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in Madison and the Guilford Newcomers Club. 

 “It is my hope that strategies learned through experiences helping my parents through the aging process may be used to help others. I am also looking to participate in community with others going through this final stage of life.”

Maryann Bracken, Co-President

A long-time Guilford resident and Massachusetts native, Maryann Bracken taught in Ghana as a member of the Peace Corps, and at an American Air Force school in England, as well as in New Hampshire. Maryann was executive director of the Women & Family Life Center in Guilford. In her retirement, she teaches yoga, and serves as a volunteer for, among other organizations, Meals on Wheels and the Integrated Refugee & Immigrant Services (IRIS.) She and her husband have two children and four grandchildren who live in Seattle and in Argentina.

“Older adults may recognize they are in need of assistance but they often hesitate to ‘burden’ family and friends,” she says. “SVCT provides that assistance while also offering connection and community.”

George duPont, Board Member

George and his wife Patricia moved to Guilford 19 years ago. He has been helping local businesses with employee benefits. George believes " humor is the best medicine" and has been avidly practicing without a license for eight decades. As an ambassador for the Shoreline Chamber of Commerce and The Jordan Porco, youth suicide prevention, Foundation, he has used his diverse marketing background to help grow and strengthen those organizations. George feels blessed and humbled by his circumstances and wants to help grow the Shoreline Village Community. As a lifelong learner, he is intrigued by all the possibilities offered to our children and grandchildren by the burgeoning capabilities of Artificial Intelligence.  

" Youth is a gift of nature, but age is a work of art."

Mary Jo Longstreth, Board Member

Born and raised in Kansas City, Missouri, Mary Jo moved to Guilford in 2023 to be near her two sons and four grandchildren.

In Kansas City she had a varied career in nursing that included school nursing, physician office management, critical care and nursing informatics. She coordinated refugee health services at Don Bosco Community Center.

She has served on the board of Bridging the Gap, an environmental group, the Liberty Hospital Foundation and the Folly Theatre.

“The Shoreline Village has been a lifeline for me. I discovered the group when they sponsored an historic walk around The Guilford Green. Everyone was so welcoming. It was an instant group of friends. My sons were so happy to know that I was not alone.”

Jennifer Cruet, Board Member

Jennifer and her husband have lived in Guilford since 1983.

Prior to her retirement she was employed by the Wallingford, CT School System for 35 years. During her Tenure there she taught Regular Education , Special Education, and served as Special Education Department Head for the 8 Elementary Schools in Wallingford for many years. 

In 2010 Jennifer founded Women Recreating Retirement. WRR is a large group of retired and semiretired women who wish to meet likeminded women while participating in large and small group activities and donating to the Community.   

She has served on the several Boards in Guilford including the Guilford Community Fund and The Women and Family Life Center which she CoChaired.

Jennifer and her husband travel to Maine each summer and have traveled extensively throughout Europe, Scandinavia, and the United Kingdom.

I have witnessed so many local residents who are living vibrantly into their 90s. They wish to stay independent and preferably in their homes. Often they have no local family and do not wish to burden friends.

It helps to be able to know that there is help available from medical support to often just changing a hard to reach lightbulb. 

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