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207 Eileen Joyce Donovan: Historical Research Unleashes a Writer’s Path
Eileen Joyce Donovan has been a writer throughout her life. It was not until she had been an adult for many years that she began to pursue writing seriously. Until then, she never felt her stories were “good enough”. It was her late husband who...
Claudia Cooley: Doing What She Loves Ignited Her Success
Claudia Cooley lives in Southern California with her husband of 61 years, one of the many ‘balcony people’ in her life who believed in her ability to make an impact. Self-taught, forward thinking and willing to put herself in uncomfortable positions,...
205 Sonia Ancoli-Israel: Sleep Disorders and What You Can Do About Them
Sonia Ancoli-Israel, Ph.D. is a Professor Emeritus and Professor of Research in the Department of Psychiatry and the Center of Circadian Biology at the University of California San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine. Her expertise is in the field of sleep...
204 Sara Zeff Geber: Solo Agers Planning for Their Future
Sara Zeff Geber, PhD, considers the years beyond 65 as the ‘bonus years.’ As a nationally recognized leader in planning for aging and retirement, in 2013 Sara began pursuing solo aging with a passion. The baby boomers--some 15 million--who do not have...
203 Nora Natof: Moving Forward and Giving Back
Nora Natof, age 87, now resides in Oak Park, IL, the village that is home to the studio of her grandfather, Frank Lloyd Wright, and many of the homes he designed. The summers Nora spent at Talieslin, her grandfather’s ‘almost’ sustainable community in...
202 Sally Strosahl: Keeping Long-term Relationships Alive
As a marriage and family therapist in private practice for more than 4 decades, Sally Strosahl (LCPC) has heard countless stories from couples about distress in their relationship as they move into retirement and get older. She felt called to write Loving...
201 Janice Hooker-Fortman: Ms. Senior Illinois 2022 Speaks to All Relationships that Matter
Dr. Janice Hooker-Fortman, relationship coach, is a former Chicago Public School educator, motivational speaker, and producer and host of “The Mother/Daughter Relationship Show. and Relationship Matters tv. She is an award-winning author, relationship...
200 Alice Matzkin: Celebrating the Authentic Aging Self
Alice Matzkin is an internationally known artist whose works fearlessly depict women aging. Alice has 2 paintings in the National Portrait Gallery of the Smithsonian and has appeared on Oprah. Her portrait of Chelsea hung in the White House during the...
199 Sally Duplantier: Lifestyle Choices to Live Your Best Life Longer
In her third career, Sally Duplantier, gerontologist and healthspan educator, founded her mission-driven company, Zing, to help older adults live as long as possible without chronic disease and disability. Through Zing, Sally offers Wellness Wednesdays,...
198 Annie Korzen: Tik Tok Sensation at 83 Shares Her Wisdom with Younger Generations
Annie Korzen’s career dreams finally came true in her 80’s. At age 83, she is a TikTok sensation with young fans who love her wit and wisdom about living life as an older woman. Annie brings her talents as an actress, writer, storyteller, and teacher to...
197 Jacqueline Boyd: The-Care-Plan Tackles the Unique Care Challenges of the LGBTQ+ Community
{spp-player] As a queer, biracial woman, Jacqueline Boyd, BA, BS, CGCM, has advocated for her community by offering services that address specific care needs. She is especially interested in how to provide people with continuing care in their homes. Her company,...
196 Mary Isabel Azrael: Publishing the Work of Older Writers
Mary Isabel Azrael, age 78, from Baltimore MD, is a poet, editor, and teacher. She is the author of four books of poems, and in her 60s, wrote the libretto for an opera, Lost Childhood, which has been performed in Los Angeles, New York, and Tel Aviv...
195 Bett Martinez: An Activist Who Advocates for Others and Self
Bett Martinez has experienced more death-defying accidents than most in her lifetime. An auto accident at 33, and again, later in life caused 2 serious head injuries, badly smashed broken legs and ongoing auto-immune issues. But Bett, who began to...
194 Josephine “Joby” Kennedy: Paths of the Heart – Where Will Your Heart Lead You?
As a young adult, Joby Kennedy became fascinated with how different people cope with trauma. This led her into a clinical psychology career during which she worked with adults, some families, and school children. She refers to herself as a generalist,...
193 Cynthia Barnett: For Girls Only–Careers in STEAM
Originally from the West Indies, Cynthia Barnett, Ph.D., from Norwalk CT retired at age 59 to pursue the question--Why Are There So Few Women in the Sciences? Cynthia became CEO and founder of a non-profit program--Amazing Girls Science-- whose goal is to...
192 Susan Reed: Being an Active Citizen–Why Not Me?
Susan Reed, PhD, age 70, has led a life of social-political action since her teens. She campaigned for McGovern and later for Obama; interned with the Chicago Women’s Liberation Union; protested the Vietnam War; worked on social policy for equities in...
191 Sara Levinson: Open-ended Thinking Leads to Adventure
Born in Poland, Sara Levinson, 75, migrated to the United States in 1963 when she was 16. She traveled by ocean liner to Montreal and later moved to Chicago. She practices an open-ended thought process and has learned to go for any opportunity that...
190 Diane Deaderick-DeMartra: Breaking the Cycle of Intergenerational Poverty for Young Women
Diane Deaderick DeMartra, a professional who has worked in corporations, non- profits, and higher education, devotes her passions and talents to “enlighten, educate, and empower inner-city teen girls and young women, especially teen and young, single...
189 Amy Temperley: Advocate for Active Aging
Amy Temperley’s passion centers on Active Aging--helping older adults stay social, active, and engaged. As a life coach and consultant, and entrepreneurial business owner, Amy focuses on helping 60+ adults find their passion and continue to live, laugh...
188 Betty Grebenschikoff: Escaping the Holocaust, adapting to refugee life, and belonging in America.
Betty Grebenschikoff, age 92 ½ , continues to speak out about the horrors of the Holocaust and her experiences as a refugee without a passport: from Germany to China to Australia and, finally, to the United States where she gained citizenship. At age 9,...
187 Dr. Louann Brizendine: The Female Brain Gets Stronger and Better in Midlife and Beyond
For years, women have been told by society to dread the second half of life, with no support available beyond expensive ointments and procedures promising to reverse the signs of aging. But thanks to Dr. Louann Brizendine’s latest book: The Upgrade: How...
186 Mary-Frances O’Connor, PhD: The Surprising Science of How We Learn from Loss and Love
Why is grief so complicated and why does grieving take such a long time, possibly never ending? In The Grieving Brain (2022), renowned grief expert, neuroscientist, and psychologist, Mary-Frances O’Connor, PhD, offers new perspectives on understanding...
185 Donna Chacko: Gratitude for an Abundance of Health and Faith
Donna Chacko, MD, practiced medicine for 40 years, first as a radiation oncologist and later, after retraining in her 50’s, as a family medicine doctor. While serving people faced with poverty and homelessness, she learned that health involves far more...
184 Patricia Novick: Championing Reproductive Freedom in the post-Roe Era
Before abortion was legalized by the US Supreme Court in 1973 (Roe v Wade), a Chicago-based group of over 100 women--known as Jane--provided counseling and illegal abortions for 11,000 women (1969-1973). Rev. & Dr. Patricia Novick, age 75, was one...
183 Nancy Watson: Many Pathways to Nurturing Others
Nancy Watson’s entrepreneurial spirit has led her on different paths, always toward nurturing other people. Her 8-year long career as a teacher in disadvantaged neighborhoods in Chicago in the 1970s was interrupted by a 2-year stint as the contented owner...
182 Pauline Boss, PhD. – The Myth of Closure: Ambiguous Loss in a Time of Pandemic and Change
Closure from ambiguous loss is a harmful misnomer. What’s needed is resilienceto live in meaningful ways with no closure. - Pauline Boss PhD. In the 1970s, Pauline Boss, PhD, began developing her theory of ambiguous loss which shebrought to the lay public...
181 Karen Kalish: Social Problems; Social Causes – Over 70 and Still Reimagining
Karen Kalish’s career included school teacher, consumer advocate, business owner, and on-air TV reporter. She became a serial social entrepreneur and believes that to whom much is given, much is required. “Partners and collaborators are what make it work....
180 Joan Harmsen: Helping Others and Having Fun
At age 97, Joan Harmsen still thrives on helping others make life more meaningful and fun. As a young war bride, Joan traded the paradise-like environment of southern Australia for the hard realities of farm life in Minnesota. To alleviate disappointment...
178 Phyllis Walden: Learning for Life in a Complex World
For Phyllis Walden, life experiences offer abundant opportunities for learning. Reading The Second Sex near completion of her doctoral program in Philosophy in the late 1960s reinforced Phyllis’ feminist perspectives. As a mentor and teacher in...
177 Jane Llewellyn: Cancer Survivor Innovates Nursing and Travels the World
At age 65, Jane Llewellyn (PHD, RN) decided to retire from her rewarding and demanding positions as Vice President of Nursing and as Associate Dean of the Nursing College at Rush University Medical Center. Why retire when she was on top of her game?...
176 Lily Liu: Role Model to 1,000s of Children and Adults during her 40-year Agency Career
Ever since she came to the United States from Kobe, Japan, at 10, Lily Liu has devoted herself to living up to the role models she found in her grandparents, aunt and mother. Her grandmother raised her while her mother, widowed at 32, worked to support...
175 Martha Hansen: Actor, Writer, Producer Launches 1st Play
Martha Hansen knows what it’s like to age. What she didn’t know was that 7 Days at Sea would be the first play she wrote and self-produced. Or that it would hit, head-on, the sexuality of women at older ages, as well as bring her close up to illness,...
174 Stephanie Raffleock: Rewriting the Narrative About Aging Women
As a child of the 1960s drug culture, Stephanie Raffelock dropped out of high school. Her return to formal education in her mid-thirties opened the doorway into examining her own life and providing platforms for other women to tell the stories of their...
173 Katharine Esty: One Psychologist’s Study Reveals the 80s is a Time of Unexpected Happiness
Dr. Katharine Esty’s husband was seriously ill when she turned 80. It put her in a funk. Even hiking with her family, an ordinary event, sent her deeper into the doldrums. Katharine couldn’t make it to the top of a favorite hill during one hike and it...
172 Vicki Thomas: Purpose-Driven Business Woman: In this World to do Good
Vicki Thomas, 76 is a life-long journalist, producer, writer and purpose-driven businesswoman. She started her career as a media writer for a multi-state trade association, worked for ABC Chicago and, in 1988, started her own company. At 75, she realized...
171Joyce Sutphen: Using Words to Find My Way
In recognition of National Poetry Month, we bring you Joyce Sutphen. Joyce Sutphen discusses her love of teaching and writing poetry, her attachment to rural life, and her decade-long experience living with Parkinson’s. Farm girl becomes college professor...
170 Joan Sotkin: You Can Change Your Life by Changing Your Emotions
Joan Sotkin, 81, is creator of 3 books and 5 audios and a financial coach whose approach is based on brain science. She is also host of the podcast The Prosperity Show. “What you believe affects what happens in your life. Every decision has an emotional...
169 Francine Russo: Older Singles – Discover New Ways to Partner Up
Francine Russo grew up in New York - a lower middle class Jewish girl. Her parents felt strongly that her MRS. Degree was more important than getting her PH.D. She did marry, twice. Both husbands died and she was left to find Love After 50: the title of...
168 Agnes Loughlin: Creating More Connection and Joy in Our Lives
For Agnes Loughlin, a former nurse and nurse practitioner, the path to internal wellness begins with awareness. She emphasizes being aware of how we direct our attention and energy to our thoughts and emotions and encourages us to use these powerful tools...
167 Cindi Elstien: Sharing Professionalism and Friendships – The Real Path to Satisfaction
Cindi Elstien finds herself in a pretty satisfying stage of life. Having overcome both breast cancer and a recent debilitating bout of pneumonia, along with several other difficult issues, she weathered 3 weeks in the hospital and has come out stronger...
166 Dr. Patricia Walicke: Blue Lake Neuroscientist Speaks on Dementia & Alzheimer’s Disease
Dr. Patricia Walicke is a 40 year veteran in neuroscience. She earned her MD from Harvard-MIT Health Science and Technology program and her PhD from the Harvard Dept. of Neuroscience. Her primary area was Alzheimer's disease research under Dr. Robert...
165 Janie Petkus: Losing Your Life Partner Suddenly – Learning to Be on Your Own
Janie Petkus is an internationally renowned interior designer. She works in all aspects of design including architectural plans, lighting and landscape. Her love for this work oozes out of her. Janie’s mother, and Doris Day were both role models and...
164 Frances Fuller: Things I said to Myself When I was Almost 90
Frances Fuller grew up in poverty. All of her books belonged to the state of Arkansas. Her mother had a 4th grade education. It is a wonder, then, that Frances became a writer and publisher and left a legacy in the form of an entire body of literature in...
163 Gail Steingold: Vinyls are Couch Covers: Improv & Long-Term Care Insurance
Gail Steingold is a go-getter whose life contains a lot of improvisation. From clinical speech pathology to long term care insurance, learning and laughing have been her constant companions. It makes sense when your work is serious and deals so much with...
162 Louise Dewey: Lady Lou, the Baby Boomer Babe – Life is Reinvention
For the last 32 years, Louise reinvented herself many times. After her husband died when she was 44, she realized she had never lived on her own. Two big questions arose: “Why am I here?”. “What am I supposed to do with my life?”. Through coursework,...
161 Susan Stall, Ph.D. CREATIVE HOUSING OPTIONS for the MISSING MIDDLE
In 1985, sociologist and activist Dr. Susan Stall designed and taught a college course entitled Gender and the Built Environment: Redesigning the American Dream. Since then, her scholarship and activism have expanded to innovations in housing that center...
160 Elaine Soloway: Life Out Loud and in the Public Eye
Elaine Soloway writes “because it’s therapeutic for me and can be helpful to others.” Although her stories are deeply personal, Elaine considers the themes to be universal. She tackles, for example, ageism, care giving, joint replacement, pet friends;...
159 Jill O’Mahony Stewart: Using Professional Talents to Redress Societal Inequities
Jill Stewart honed her talents in public relations and writing for more than 20 years as founder and head of her own PR firm that was committed to “issues that matter.” She and her teams were there in the early stages of the AIDS epidemic and the...
158 Lin O’Neill: Fearless Warrior – Life Happens
Growing up with a schizophrenic mother, experiencing violence most of her young life, and surviving breast cancer all contribute to Lin’s mantra: Resilience | Decisiveness | Courage. 25 different careers, first corporate and then entrepreneurial, made Lin...
157 Frances ‘Poppy’ Northcutt: One Time Rocket Scientist, Sometime Lawyer, Full Time Feminist
Frances “Poppy” Northcutt gained national fame as the first and only woman in NASA’s mission control room working on the Apollo Program. Poppy and her team designed the Return-to-Earth trajectory that took the Apollo 8 crew around the Moon and back to...
EP155 Bindy Bitterman: A Limerick Writer is She… Fun, Playful and Spirited at 90!!
Talking with Bindy Bitterman is full of laughter and humor. She recently published her first children’s book, Skiddley, Diddley, Skat, a beautifully illustrated limerick and has returned to frequently writing limericks to the delight of all who know her....
154 Sandra Whitmore: Not Knowing Leads to New Adventures
Sandra Whitmore, age 73 from Brevard NC, couldn’t wait to grow up so she could travel--to 33 countries, 17 Caribbean islands, and on 45 cruises (and still counting). Twenty years ago, she was new to community theatre, working her way from stage manager to...
153: Marcia Whitney-Schenck: Freedom to Express our Spirituality and Explore Our Creativity is a Gift
At every stage and turning point in her life, Marcia Whitney-Schenck asks herself, “What could I do? How might I think about this?” Each of her undertakings is underlined by a creative spirit that, she believes, is the essence of all humanity. Witty,...
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