In 1985, Davie and Joy Napier moved to Pilgrim Place because they knew this community's ethos and traditions were deeply congruent with the lives they had made for themselves in earlier years. Since the time of the community's founding in 1915, it has attracted successive generations of retired leaders of religious and humanitarian institutions from around the world.

"Pilgrims" today are known for their continuing engagement with major issues of the time. The community has a long tradition of critical analysis and debate about the most creative approaches to those issues. Pilgrim Place exemplifies a different kind of "retirement," where elders continue to probe, connect and grow.

The small college town of Claremont, some thirty miles east of Los Angeles, facilitates the reflective/engaged lifestyle of Pilgrim Place residents. Located here are the five Claremont Colleges (Pomona, Scripps, Pitzer, Harvey Mudd and Claremont McKenna), as well as the Claremont School of Theology, Claremont Graduate University, and Keck Graduate Institute.

What is special about the Napier Center for Creative Change?
Centrally located on Pilgrim Place's 32-acre campus, the new LEED-certified Napier Center serves as Pilgrim Place’s principal site for a great variety of resident and community activities. A large multi-purpose room is used for issue forums, meetings, eucharistic services, special suppers and parties, yoga classes and musical events (thanks to the presence of Davie’s beloved baby-grand piano). The building we call the Napier Center itself calls us to "creative change."

What is special about the Napier Awards?
The Napier Awards project is an affirmation of young adults who demonstrate outstanding leadership skill and promise in addressing varied issues of justice, peace and environmental sustainability. Through this unique intergenerational venture, Pilgrim Place residents continue their tradition of engagement with current issues; they nurture the vision among college students of a world made better through their own committed labors; and Pilgrim Place thereby models a fresh generative role for elders.

We hope to form a long-term, continuing association of all students nominated by their schools for the Napier Awards, so that these "Napier Fellows" will remain in a mutually supportive relationship with each other and with Pilgrim Place.

The funds we have received for the Awards project will support it for an initial start-up period. We believe that its early successful implementation will put us in a strong position to secure additional support, including endowment funds, for the years beyond.

   Residents gather at peace vigil