Darby Line is a very interesting woman with a delightful sense of humor. But she is also very serious about her work as a massage therapist and her dedication to the senior citizen community.
She is the owner of the Full Circle Family Massage and Healing Center located at 329 Princeton-Hightstown Road. On Sunday, September 9 from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m., Full Circle will celebrate national Grandparents’ Day. The reception area will be transformed into an English tea room with china cups, silver spoons, linen napkins and yummy pastries. To “thank them for being who they are”, seniors will receive a special $5 discount on any one-hour massage that day and are invited to enjoy tea time courtesy of Full Circle..##M:[more]##
The daughter of an Episcopalian minister, Darby grew up in Larchmont, New York, a Westchester County suburb of New York City. She graduated from Dickinson College in Carlisle with a BA in Music and Russian. After graduation, she was “madly in love with a Dickinson law student” so she decided to stay in Carlisle to look for work. She was hired by the Salvation Army to set up a storefront senior center with various programs for the elderly. It was largely a seat of the pants effort, she says, because in the 1970s there wasn’t any precedence or funding for this sort of project. But it was a great success — she loved the work and adored the seniors. “It felt great, like everyday at work surrounded by your grandparents,” she remembers. And she was making $80 a week at her first job. “I felt like I won the lottery.”
The romance with the law student ended. But Joseph Line, who would become Darby’s husband, was a local guy and the seniors at the Salvation Army Center knew him. So they threw her a wedding shower at the Center and one of the seniors who was a retired teacher and an excellent seamstress made her wedding dress.
The next stop for the Lines was Ann Arbor, Michigan, where Joseph went to graduate school and Darby continued to work planning senior programs (including a nutrition program) now with the aid of some newly created federal funding.
A few years later, with the addition of son Ken, they moved to Huntington, West Virginia when Joseph became a professor of music at Marshall University. Darby received her MA in journalism from Marshall and became an on-air reporter for TV station WSAZ in Huntington. She was on weekend assignment when sometimes the news was slow, so she recalls, “I filled in with a lot of stories about classical music.”
Finally the family moved to Plainsboro in 1989. Joseph Line (who is also a piano accompanist, organist, conductor and church musician) opened his own private piano studio in Plainsboro, where he currently instructs 30 students ranging in age from 7 to adult. Ken Line graduated from WW-P High School in 1996. Although he has a degree in chemistry from the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia, Ken was bitten by the restaurant management bug after working a summer job as a waiter at the Americana Restaurant on Route 130 in East Windsor. He and his wife recently purchased and operate a Thai restaurant called Pad Thai on 2nd Street in Philadelphia.
Darby opened Full Circle in 1996 after having trained as a massage therapist 14 years ago. In addition to Darby there are 16 other freelance therapists who work out of the Full Circle office. They each specialize in various techniques such as deep tissue massage, energy healing massage, nurturing relaxing massage and foot reflexology. Darby considers herself a generalist but is particularly interested in essential oil therapy. “I could talk about essential oils all day,” she says. She creates her own custom blends of oils to treat clients. She also does Thai massage, Hot Stone Therapy and she is a Reiki Master. (Reiki is a form of natural or energy healing described by Darby as similar to the laying on of hands.)
Darby’s vision for Full Circle is to provide a range of services for the whole family from infants to seniors in a peaceful healing space. “I believe that wellness is wholeness in body, mind and spirit,” she says. It occurs only when mind, body and spirit are supported, nurtured, accepted and loved. Full Circle is a reflection of this belief and skilled compassionate touch is the language.”
For more information on Full Circle Family Massage and Healing Center visit their website at www.fullcirclemassage.com or call 609 371-0888. To schedule a massage on Grandparents Day call 609 371-0888. — Susan Parris
Grandparents Day, Full Circle Family, 329 Princeton Hightstown Road, East Windsor, 609-634-4938. English tea time and discounted massages to celebrate Grandparents Day. Register. Sunday, September 9, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
