When Brian and Vickie Runk of Lynchburg came to Smith Mountain Lake as vacation home owners in 2002, the couple were in search of rest, solace and healing.

"Our son, [Christopher] who was 12 at the time, had just been diagnosed with juvenile diabetes," Vickie Runk said. "We fell in love with the lake. It became a part of our heart and soul."

Five years later, the Runks are coming to the lake for a reason other than pleasure: business.

Later this month, the Runks, in conjunction with Vickie Runk's parents, Norman and Linda Pratt, plan to break ground on the lake area's first assisted-living facility.

Runk & Pratt Residential Adult Care at Westlake Towne Center will be the family's fourth adult-care facility and will feature both assisted-living and memory-care units.

"Mr. [Ron] Willard contacted us," Vickie Runk said.

The self-made millionaire developer has been evaluating plans for an assisted-living facility at Westlake Towne Center since petitioning the Franklin County Board of Supervisors to approve the 140-acre development in 2000.

Willard sold a tract of land at the center to a Stuart-based assisted-living operation in 2000 with the contingency that an adult-care facility be built there within a specified time. If the work was not completed on time, the purchaser was to deed the land back to Willard.

The case eventually was heard in Franklin County Circuit Court and the deed was returned to Willard, but the ordeal tied up the parcel for more than four years.

"When I was working with Brian Runk and his people, I felt more comfortable with them than anyone," Willard said. "They own the facilities, manage the facilities and make their living from it."

Since development at the center began seven years ago, some $40 million of construction has been completed. Willard said he expects the assisted-living facility to cost $11 million to $12 million more.

"It makes me feel good," he said. "I brought the first golf course to Smith Mountain Lake. I brought the first bank to Smith Mountain Lake. I brought the first and second grocery stores ... [and now] the first assisted-living to Smith Mountain Lake. We are growing."

In the first phase of construction at Runk & Pratt's Westlake facility, 14 independent-living cottages will be built around the main building. Twenty-five acres will allow the project to expand as needed, Brian Runk said.

The assisted-living center will be a 43,000-square-foot facility offering assisted-living, memory care and end-of-life care. The Westlake location will be the first of Runk & Pratt's ventures to offer all three levels of care under one roof. Currently, the company's Forest facility is the only one to offer Alzheimer's and other dementia care.

"This is sort of the pinnacle of our career," Vickie Runk said.

The Runks met while attending Liberty University and married after graduation. She went to work in admissions at a Lynchburg nursing home.

"When I had my first child, I hated to leave him to go to work," Vickie Runk said. "I wanted to bring in an income and still spend time with my child."

Perusing through the classified advertisements in the fall of 1992, she stumbled upon an Appomattox County assisted-living center that was for sale.

"It was a 19-bed facility that had been in business for 38 years," said Vickie Runk. "The lady who ran it was on her deathbed."

With the help of her parents, the young couple purchased the home and fixed it up.

"Within six months we had 20 people on a waiting list," Vickie Runk said.

Less than a year later came the phone call that changed Runk & Pratt's future. The owner of an assisted-living facility on Main Street in Bedford called seeking immediate placement for 15 women. Vickie Runk knew it was impossible to take in the residents, so she told the owner she wanted to see the facility.

"Within two days we bought it," she said.

After four years, the Appomattox facility closed and the residents were moved to a newer, larger location on Leesville Road in Lynchburg. The former Moose Lodge added 80 beds to Runk & Pratt's offerings.

Building on their success, Runk & Pratt purchased the memory-care center in Forest in 2000.

From the first facility in Appomattox County to date, Runk & Pratt's payroll started with six and has grown to more than 90 employees.

"You lose a little when you start growing," Vickie Runk admitted

In the early days, she wore all the hats, including a nurse's uniform at times. The Runks spent all day every day running the first assisted-living center.

A larger staff allows Brian Runk to oversee the corporate office.

"She is the visionary, the marketing person," he said of his wife of 19 years.

Vickie Runk remembered when she knew every resident personally and how their faces would light up when they saw her, but the family's success is demonstrative of the level of care provided, she said.

"Folks say we're a nursing home," Brian Runk said. "We're not that."

Residents with medical problems, such as those requiring intravenous medicine or feeding tubes, would need to be cared for in a nursing home or hospital.

The services Runk & Pratt offers at its assisted-living facilities include 24-hour supervised care, three hot meals, daily laundry and housekeeping service, recreational activities and on-site physical, speech and occupational therapy. Transportation to doctors' appointments also is provided.

"Westlake is a hub," Brian Runk said. "We are anxious to meet all the needs and are open-minded to whatever grows out of that."

Construction on the facility is expected to take approximately 14 months.

"It is a gift from us to that community," Vickie Runk said.