In 1987, Mercedes Gunderson of suburban Edina, Minnesota, moved her mother—and her stuff—from her lifelong home in small-town Wisconsin to the Twin Cities. It was one of four moves that the elder Ms. Gunderson would make during the final seven years of her life. The stress of those relocations made an impression on the younger Ms. Gunderson, and in 1990 she founded what’s believed to be the first U.S. company devoted to moving senior citizens and their stuff: Gentle Transitions.
