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When New Jersey natives Bob and Norma Shoemaker decided to retire, they began their search in Tennessee. But a friend simply raved about living in Hot Springs Village, Ark., the nation's largest gated community. So on a golf trip to Tennessee, they made a quick detour to the village, and before the end of the trip, they had decided to retire there.

Of course, the couple had been introduced to Arkansas earlier when Bob was still a senior executive with the Boy Scouts of America. While living in Texarkana, Tex., Bob would often go camping with the scouts in the Ouachita Mountains.

“After camp, my family and I would go and vacation in the area, and I realized then how beautiful Arkansas really was,” Bob said. Today, he feels even more strongly about the state. “I describe Arkansas as finding heaven right here on earth. It's a beautiful state, and the tax system is ideal. We didn't know how good Arkansas was until we got here. Now that we're here, you can't get us away.”

One of Bob's retirement goals was to get involved in public service, and 40 years with the Boy Scouts supplied him with the appropriate skills. Bob landed a spot on the private community's board of directors seven years ago, serving as president for the last year and a half. In their spare time, the golf enthusiasts, who live on one of the village's nine courses, also enjoy walking parts of the community's 20 miles of trails. And since their sons live in Texas, it's a convenient one-day drive to visit their grandkids – a definite bonus to living in Arkansas.

But Bob really felt blessed that they chose Arkansas when Norma was diagnosed with multiple myeloma six years after moving. Living in Hot Springs Village meant they were near the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, one the nation's best medical facilities treating and researching multiple myeloma.

“UAMS is a great medical facility,” Bob said. “We couldn't be more pleased with what we have available to us.”