Like throngs of other retirees in the early 1990s, Shirley and Vernon Adams couldn’t ignore the glossy ads promoting Battlement Mesa as the nation’s premier retirement destination, a charming community in the mountain’s shadow nestled in the heart of the Western Slope.

Shirley, a Wisconsin native, who specifically chose a career path “west of the Mississippi,” settled into bliss in the town that touted all the extras at a fraction of the price: an 18-hole golf course, an Olympic-sized pool and all the outdoor recreation one could want out the back door, halfway between Glenwood Springs and Grand Junction.

People were friendly, she said, and meeting new folks in the town of about 3,000 was easy because every retiree was a transplant from somewhere else.

It was hello, followed by, “Who are you and where do you come from?” Shirley said of her home from 1991 until last summer. Vernon passed away in 1999, but Shirley, 86, who volunteered as the head of the senior center, would have liked to stay in Battlement Mesa. Instead, she moved to Grand Junction last July to be closer to her daughter in Fruita.

But Adams lived there long enough to see the healthy retiree population give way to gas workers. Soon, two wells popped up about one-eighth of a mile from her beloved senior center.

“These retirees who had lived in other places could smell what was going to happen,” Adams said.

In the past couple years, demographics of the town that Exxon built to house workers to mine oil-shale deposits has nearly turned back full circle, residents said. Workers’ muddy trucks clog intersections and kick up a continuous trail of dust on the roads leading out of town. New families seem to move in every day, lured by higher wages offered by jobs in the energy fields.

Radical increases in housing prices — an apartment which rented for $350 in the 1990s can cost more than $1,000 today— have prompted some retirees to cash out. Other aging seniors yearn to be closer to family or medical services, and some leave because of a noticeable decrease in air quality and an aversion to a landscape that has evolved from bucolic to one dotted with gas wells.

“Basically what we’re seeing is a lot of seniors are leaving. They don’t like the way things are changing without a lot of investment in the community,” said Cheryl Cain, who heads Garfield County’s Retired Senior Volunteer Program, better known as RSVP.

“All these folks who thought they were moving for the last time are moving again. A lot of folks say, ‘I didn’t retire for this.’ ”

As seniors move on, fewer remain to volunteer for all the aspects that made up the town’s quaint retired life, Cain said.

She counts 175 senior volunteers in Battlement Mesa and nearby Parachute, but that’s a 72 percent decrease, slightly attributed to death, in volunteers since 2006.

Volunteers mainly assist in serving meals at the senior center or working at the hospital and library or completing tasks such as vehicle-identification-number inspections, school safety and bicycle clinics for local law enforcement.

However, Cain estimates at least 40 dedicated “powerhouse” volunteer couples have recently moved away, meaning only basic needs, and not the community’s advanced needs, are being met.

With more volunteers, she said, there would be help to peel away siding on termite-infested walls at the senior center. Instead, the job is going undone.

The remaining retirees are saying ‘yes’ to volunteer work more often, “until they get burned out,” Cain said.

“There’s still a strong community for seniors. It’s just weakening,” Cain said.

Longtime Parachute Library Manager Holly Klinzman has watched the town come full circle.

The area, with its sweeping vistas, stellar amenities and reasonable housing rates, attracted an eclectic jumble of retirees, such as a jazz drummer from Denmark, a nuclear physicist who helped to launch the Hubble Telescope and plenty of adventure-seeking spirits “doing the RV thing,” she said.

These days, the librarian of 22 years, who herself will retire in a couple of weeks, sees a different sort of town.

It startled her the first time a few years ago when she was addressed as ma’am, and she was tickled to see a gas worker in a grocery store recently seeking out collard greens and okra.

She’s aware of the gas wells and the pungent smell of gas when the wind’s still, but she prefers to look at the towering rigs as Christmas decorations lit up in the night.

Klinzman and her husband will jump-start their retirement, traveling the country in a 16-foot travel trailer, crossing national parks and monuments off the list along the way.

The Klinzmans were the first family to move into an apartment complex of single folks during the “ghost town” days in 1983, a year after the infamous Black Sunday, a spring day when Exxon called it quits on efforts to squeeze oil from the area’s rocks.

Now, with families moving back to the area for the booming gas industry, the library’s budget has flip-flopped from being heavy on books for seniors to more funding for children’s books.

Men who enter the library now are apologetic about muddy boots, but the library adapted, offering wireless Internet that could be accessed in the building’s parking lot or by sitting on furniture placed outside.

Klinzman takes these changes in stride.

“It’s still going to be an interesting mix of people,” she said.

Marolin Moore of South Texas is one of those newcomers. The mother of two, ages 7 and 10, said her husband works for Exxon-Mobil, which has assured the family the work will last for years.

Moore, who was signing up her children for library cards Friday after settling in last week, said people have been friendly and helpful. She fell in love with the area, its mountains, recreation opportunities and lack of humidity during a February visit.

Moore said her husband felt the need to stock up on items he couldn’t get in Parachute such as brisket and some vegetables, but the family is generally pleased with their move to the mountains.

“We’re just in awe,” she said. “My husband says all the time, ‘I can’t believe we live here.’ ”

Finding reasonable housing was another matter; the family paid $250,000 for a new, 1,670-square-foot, ranch-style home.

And the Moore children probably will add to another record-breaking year for new students in the school district.

Last year brought about 100 new elementary school students. This year, a new middle school is being built. Parachute’s Grand Valley High School graduated more students than ever this year, 71, compared to about 30 during previous years.

Fran Storm, the events director at Battlement Mesa’s 53,000-square-foot activities center, said she enjoys the town’s youthful infusion.

The center took on the preschool students while its building was being renovated, a change seniors were initially concerned about, but now delight in, Storm said.

The center recently added a playground to accommodate youth and is in its fifth year of sponsoring a Fourth of July kids parade. Classes have been added to include swimming for adults and children.

“There were children here before, but now there’s more, of course,” she said. “Frankly (the children) relish the attention. If a bunch of kids are running around, they’re not going to get away with much (with seniors present).”

A group of four women, who all are at least 75 years old and have been meeting at the center for the past two decades, represent a slower pace.

They play bridge on Thursdays and the card game Skip-Bo on Fridays. The center sponsors needlework groups and card groups, in addition to activities such as racquetball and tennis.

“You can see not everybody’s leaving,” center Director Anne Huber said, referring to the elderly quartet. “If you’ve lived here long enough, you expect change.”

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E-mail Amy Hamilton at ahamilton@gjds.com.