Boomer Banter, Real Talk about Aging Well

Francine Hachem has reinvented herself a few times, but through it all she was drawn to the theater. When she graduated from high school she had a desire to go to New York City or Hollywood and pursue a career in acting. Her father had other ideas. They lived in Detroit, he was a union man, and he told Francine she needed to work for one of the Big 3 Automakers and make some money before pursing a...

Dr. Anne Basting has been trying to bring meaning making into care facilities for over 30 years. In her work with people with profound dementia, Anne has found that individuals were able to respond to improvisation and creative engagement. In this episode, Anne shares amazing stories of how her organization, TimeSlips.org has been using various tools and techniques to build connection and meaning...

Helen Hirsh Spence left her 30 year career as an educator full of hope and anticipation for what was possible in her next act. She soon realized that she (as have all of us) had been brainwashed by the media and our culture into believing that aging meant being old. She had to confront her own internal ageist biases before she could move on. Helen founded the Top Sixty over Sixty enterprise to cel...

We all have lots of questions surrounding what is next for us after we "retire" from our careers.     How do we define ourselves? What kind of support do we have and/or need? Are we financially prepared? How do we stay healthy or improve our health?    All of these questions were discussed by the panel in this episode of the podcast. Some of the key take-aways:    1. Have honest discussions with y...

Aging with Finesse is the title of a 3-book series by Dr. Mary Flett and the basis of the discussion we had on the show today. What does it mean to age today, when we live longer and we still have so much to contribute? People are finding that they feel invisible, both as older workers and as retired individuals. Dr. Mary has developed what she calls, The Five Pillars of Aging, much of which is ba...

Jill Korn had spent a career in Learning and Development. She always had a love for theater and drama, and took an acting course in her 50's. But with retirement approaching in her 60's she was dreading the potential of boredom without something to do. She went back to University and took a Creative Writing course. This endeavor has morphed into becoming a writer, director, producer and actor in a...

This past year and a half have been challenging in many ways. The pandemic, social unrest, political discourse, economic challenges. Long before this, Nancy Neal and Ron Demonet had a dream for a place where people could go to unwind, to find harmony within themselves and in nature. They began putting together a business plan for a place a few years ago, and in 2019 they opened the Dawn Retreat Ce...

Catch us when we fall, written by Juliette Fay, is a story of alcoholism, recovery, hope and redemption. Juliette is a best-selling author of 6 books and we talked about how she got started with writing. She was a young mother of 4 children and was looking for something that was just hers. She would find moments when the children were distracted or sleeping to write down pieces of the stories that...

Aging Adventurously through travel is what this episode is about. I spoke with Road Scholar Director of PR, Kelsey Perri and solo traveler and lifestyle blogger, Barbara Winard. Road Scholar is a not-for-profit educational travel organization that had to make some serious adjustments when the pandemic shut down travel. We talked about how they survived and some of the history of the organization f...

Harold Shapiro has been a professional photographer for close to 40 years, with one of his largest clients being Yale University. He is also a creative, artistic photographer and had received a grant to create images of instruments that portrayed light and movement. He called it Luminous Instruments. This exhibit was staged and ready for a grand opening in March of 2020 and on March 13, 2020, ever...

Sustainable investing is about thinking about what you care about, what is important to you and then talking to advisor about what your beliefs are and how you can structure your investments to support those beliefs. Francie Heller, is the daughter of holocaust survivors and visionaries who instlled gratitude and the value of giving back into their children. Francie started out as a speech patholo...

Dr. Marilou Ryder and Jessica Thompson are sisters who have combined research and personal stories to develop their Sister to Sister series of books. In this episode I spoke with them about what motivated them to become advocates for women and girls and to find this as their purpose in this stage of their lives. They feel like they are changing the conversation for women and girls by sharing insig...

Dr. Jason Karlawish, physician and professor at the University of Pennsylvania and co-director of the Penn Memory Center, speaks with us about his book, "The Problem of Alzheimer's: How Science, Culture and Politics Turned a Rare Disease into a Crisis." The discussion was insightful in many ways. We talked about how Alzheimer's was first identifed as a disease, rather than just an outcome of aging...

We talked about songwriting, how he decided to get into the music business. what inspired him to produce the album, HOPE, during the pandemic, his time in LA, and Tai Chi.  Jim shared information about some of his musical heroes like Robert Hunter, Ralph Stanley and Graham Nash, and he played 3 songs during the interview. You can find his newest album and show dates on his website at: https://jiml...

Dr. Wes Dripps is the Executive Director of the Shi Institute for Sustainable Communities at Furman University. Sustainability has been a part of the Furman campus for many years, and in 2020 they shifted to add a community engagement and community focus to their work. In our discussion we get a tour of the Institute's Southern Living Designer home and some of the features that make this a "green"...

The Inner Work of Age: Shifting from Role to Soul, is the latest book by Dr. Connie Zweig. In this episode of Hey, Boomer we talk about moving past denial, fear and resistance to discover the dreams and opportunities available to us as we age. We talk about mortality awareness, what it means to become an Elder and we discuss some archetypes of aging. And we confront the inner ageist in all of us t...

Renato Vicario has been making liqueurs all of his life, alongside his grandmother and great grandmother while growing up in Northern Italy. The tradition of fine food, fine wines and excellent liqueurs is part of the Italian tradition. Janette Wesley, his wife, grew up in a family business in Greer, SC and was passionate about gardening, art and family. The couple lived in Italy for awhile, raisi...

Award-winning journalst and author, John Gallagher shares the story of "The Englishman and Detroit" on today's episode.  Randal Charlton, the Englishman, had been a serial entrepreneur when he lost everything in his 50's. He went through about a decade of attempts to start something new and nothing was working. He got an opportunity to lead a startup in the pharma research area, and decided t...

On this episode of Hey, Boomer!, Wendy Green and Maddie are in Nashville for a special show, where they talk about being a mom and a grandmother, and traveling together. They also discuss Wendy's tradition of hosting "Camp Wey-Wey" with her grandchildren and taking them on individual trips between ages 10-14. Wendy and Maddie visited Chincoteague Island, a natural resource preserve with wild ponie...

Anna Byrne is an attorney and financial advisor who wants to provide guidance to her clients to not only pass on their assets, but also to pass on their values. She has written two books, "The Widow's Guide" and "The Inheritor's Guide" to help readers prepare for and navigate the legal and financial hurdles when they have lost someone dear to them. These books are packed full of information and wi...

What is your intuition trying to tell you? Do you trust it? Michele Sammons is a spiritual teacher, and a highly attuned guide who helps her clients transform their lives through divine guidance. Michele is also the author of "The little book of big knowing" which provides tiny bursts of insight you can use daily to help you get in touch with your inner self. This was such a powerful episode, one...

Moving from a full-time career to retirement takes many different forms. Some people transition slowly. Some know what they want to do and go for it. Some have no idea and try out different ways of being during this transition. Dick Haiduck, a new author at 72, interviewed over 75 people transitioning to retirement and wrote a book called "Shifting Gears." In my conversationg with him today, he sh...

What you don't know can hurt you, and what you don't know about the risk factors, warning signs and lifestyle practices that affect Alzheimer's disease and other demensias can create fear and anxiety. In this episode, I speak with Kimberly Best, the Senior Director of Development for the Alzheimer's Association of SC. We talked about Warning signs, what they are and what they aren't Benefits of ea...

Genevieve Piturro had a successful career as a television marketing executive. She was feeling like she wanted to give back and started volunteering to read to children at homeless shelters. Then one day, a question from a 6-year old girl changed her life. In 2001, Genevieve founded the national non-profit, Pajama Program. It has not been an easy ride, but it is now a hugely successful program hel...

Have you followed the "fake-it-till-you-make" advice? Experienced imposter syndrome? Struggled with self-doubt or hesitated to go after what you really want? Leslie Ehm is passionate about helping people unleash their potential and develop their inner power and Swagger. She is the author of the new book, "Swagger-Unleash Everything you are and become Everything you want." Since it's release in May...