Never Stop Building: Meet David

How David Found Time to Create and a Community That Feels Like Home.
Retirement has given him more time to build.

For much of his life, David Dissmeyer, a resident of The Sequoias San Francisco since 2017, spent his days building. Today, that passion continues in the community woodshop, where each project begins as a simple piece of wood and gradually becomes something he can proudly call his own.

His latest project is an intricate model of a Spanish galleon, complete with its cannon deck. Like every project before it, it reflects the patience, craftsmanship, and satisfaction that have always come from working with his hands.

What changed wasn’t his love of building. It was having the freedom to spend more time doing it.

“I don’t have to worry about the house or the fence or the garden,” David says. “I can come here and enjoy my hobbies. I have so much more free time to do the things I want to do that I never could do when I was working.”

Without the responsibilities of home maintenance, grocery shopping, or cooking every meal, David has more time to focus on the hobbies that bring him joy.

For David, woodworking is not simply about completing a project. It’s about the process of creating something from nothing.

“You have things that start with nothing, and you can see how they progress,” David said. “When you’re done, you can look at that and go, ‘Oh my God, I built that.’ It’s just the gratification of creating something with my hands.”

That feeling never gets old.

“It never stops,” David said. “I keep doing one after the other, after the other.”

Each completed project inspires the next, keeping his creativity active and giving him another reason to return to the workshop.

While the woodshop at The Sequoias is where David enjoys spending his time, it is not what he treasures most about community living.

Ask him what he never wants to stop doing, and his answer comes immediately.

“Socializing.”

The friendships he has built have become just as meaningful as the projects he creates.

“That’s the best part of living at The Sequoias. It’s the social aspect of the community,” David said. “It’s like a village. Everybody knows everyone. You talk to everybody in the elevator. People look out for you. If you’re not there for breakfast, they kind of wonder where you are.”

Years after moving in, David still describes ‘community’ as one of the most unexpected and rewarding parts of life at The Sequoias San Francisco.

For David, building has taken on new meaning.

It begins in the woodshop, where each project offers the satisfaction of creating something with his own hands. It continues outside the workshop through conversations with neighbors, friendships that grow over time, and a community where people genuinely care about one another.

That’s what retirement has made possible: more time for the hobbies he loves, more opportunities to connect, and the freedom to keep building a life filled with purpose.

“It’s a wonderful place to live,” David said. “You shouldn’t wait.”