From thoughts of selling to a fourth Anita’s Gardens

By KRISTYN HALBIG ZIEHM

Ozaukee Press staff

Just a year or so ago, Bridgette Benavides and Kathleen Mahoney Benavides were contemplating the sale of Anita’s Gardens assisted living facilities in Port Washington and Grafton.

They were nearing retirement age and burned out after operating the business for more than a dozen years and living through the pandemic — not to mention the fact that three of Benavides’ relatives had died in the previous two years.

“We cried a lot during Covid,” Benavides said.