Alva Review-Courier -

HOWELL, N.J. (AP) — It was May of 2006, two days before Mother's Day, when a sad epiphany struck Jane Miller. The Howell resident was working at a Monmouth County retirement community when she noticed one of the residents had spent the entire day in the lobby.

"The woman was sitting there watching bouquets being brought in for anybody but her," Miller said. "It bothered me to no end."

Finally, in the late afternoon, Miller asked the resident if she was OK.

"She said, 'I don't have any family,'" Miller recalled. "I'm just enjoying watching all these flowers come in."

The woman was an "elder orp...