It wasn’t her first stint as interim executive director of Touchmark on South Hill, but the second, that left Michaela Thompson thinking that she was capable of doing the job full time.

Thompson briefly served as interim executive director from February through October last year. A candidate was appointed to that position full time but eventually left the role in June. Selected as interim director again, this time, Thompson says she threw her hat into the ring for formal consideration for the permanent position.

“I didn’t apply when I first became interim because I like to be good at what I do,” she says. “If you haven’t sat in this chair and haven’t done this job ... there’s a lot to know about it.”

Thompson says she learned a lot in the initial on-the-job training, and by the time her second interim tour got started, she was ready.

“Timing is everything,” she says.

Located at 2929 S. Waterford, Touchmark on South Hill is one of 14 retirement communities, including one under development, in 10 U.S. states and one Canadian province that’s owned and operated by Beaverton, Oregon-based Touchmark LLC. More than 3,200 people live in Touchmark communities, which employ more than 2,500 workers. In Washington, Touchmark operates the South Hill facility and another in Vancouver.

Touchmark on South Hill has 262 units and a continuum of services that includes independent and assisted living, memory care and home health care, health and fitness training, and full on-site nursing services, says Touchmark public relations director Jan Bellis-Squires.

The longtime South Hill complex features 60 cottages that are duplex-style structures that range from 1,200 square feet to 2,200 square feet of space. Monthly costs start at $1,465 with multiple service level options available, she says.

Touchmark has independent apartment-style homes ranging from 400 square feet to 1,600 square feet, with costs starting at approximately $2,900 a month. Homes with assisted-living services vary between 400 square feet and 1,600 square feet, with monthly costs starting at $4,600, she says.

Touchmark on South Hill currently has a little more than 300 employees and 300 residents, according to Thompson.

Taking on a leadership role can be daunting, even more so in the time of a global pandemic. However, Thompson has the vantage point of having risen through the ranks of the retirement community she first went to work for in 1999.

“From the beginning of March, we’ve focused on staying in touch with national and local health officials and following their recommendations,” she says of her leadership role in the pandemic era.

Dining rooms have been closed, and staff delivers three meals a day to residents, while additional staff has been hired to assist with the increase in cleaning and disinfecting of community facilities, Thompson says.

“We just continue to do everything we can to keep residents safe,” she says.

Four COVID-19 cases. two of which involved employees, have been reported at Touchmark since March. None of the cases were fatal, she says.

Thompson, who recently turned 56, was born and raised in Spokane and grew up on the South Hill. Beyond three years spent running her own coffee business in Seaside, Oregon, from 2011 to 2014, she’s lived in Spokane.

Thompson went back to school later in her life and has a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Gonzaga University, which she completed in 2009. Her graduation was sandwiched between her two oldest daughters’ graduations from Gonzaga, in 2008 and 2010, she says.

“I had four children. and I was caring for my mom,” she says. “After she passed, I had this void in my life, and I began thinking about going back to school.”

She married at a young age, and children soon followed. Even still, former Touchmark on South Hill executive director, Jeff Bair, always encouraged Thompson to pursue her undergraduate degree, she says.

“Four kids and I were doing homework at the table on many weekends,” she says with a laugh.

Bair, who went on to become Touchmark’s Spokane-based regional vice president before retiring earlier this year, says he knew he could count on Thompson from the time he first hired her.

“She’s just one of those really steady people,” Bair says. “People trust her. I wanted to see her get her degree so that there wouldn’t be any barriers between her and the ability to advance.”

Thompson was first hired at the South Hill retirement home to work the front desk from 4 p.m. to midnight. Her children ranged in age from 2 to 12 years then. Her husband worked days, she took the swing shift, and the couple were able to avoid child care payments, she says.

“I remember going home and telling my family, ‘It’s like working at a five-star hotel,’’’ Thompson says of Touchmark. “I was just really impressed with how beautiful the community and campus was. It was a great fit for a mom going back to work.”

After working at the front desk for two years, Thompson was selected to be executive assistant to both Bair and the retirement community’s sales team, she says.

Following a two-year stretch in that job, Bair approached her about the idea of taking on the newly created position of resident relations, a job in which she would serve as the liaison between residents and their families when it became necessary for residents to have an additional level of care.

“I was apprehensive about that because it was a whole new world,” she says.

Thompson went on to work five years in that job.

Then, in 2007, Bair asked her to take the job of director of operations, which is now called the director of residence services.

She accepted the job, but then in 2011, Thompson made a midcareer pivot in which she decided to move the family to the Oregon coast to operate a coffee shop.

“I always kind of had it on a bucket list; we always liked to travel to the coast with the kids,” she says.

While there one summer, a particular building Thompson had long spied displayed a “for lease” sign in a window. She made a few calls, and almost before she knew it, she had assumed the lease.

“It was bittersweet to leave here, but it was an opportunity I just felt like I had to do,” she says. “It was pretty much everything I wanted: a coffee house with a fireplace in it, an apartment above it where we could work and live.”

She signed a three-year lease, and to this day, Thompson is proud to say that her coffee shop maintained a No. 1 ranking on the travel website Trip Advisor every year she owned the shop.

Nearing the end of the lease, and with her youngest child approaching graduation from high school in Seaside, the building’s owners informed Thompson of their desire to sell the building.

Meanwhile, her former position of operations director at Touchmark opened up.

“It was a good time to return,” she says.

Bair says he didn’t hesitate to hire her back. He says he’s proud of the work she’s done to help Touchmark on South Hill become what he describes as one of the area’s premier retirement communities.

“In that position, you have to have the respect of the team, the residents, and their family members,” Bair says. “She’s been a key part of the Touchmark team for the last 17 years and sees the big picture at all times.”