Women Over 70: Aging Reimagined

Carol Offen and Betsy Crais know all too well the exhilaration, separately, of being a living donor and a 2-time organ recipient. Carol’s adult, college-age son was in need of a kidney. Carol became his donor.  Betsy Crais’s evaluation for gastric problems in her thirties revealed polycystic kidney disease. When she was in her fifties she became the grateful recipient of a kidney donation from a l...

Barbara Ellison always wanted to have a TV show. Since waking up from her widow’s fog after her husband died when she was in her early 60’s, she has not stood still. She says, “I had no idea who I was, or what I was meant to do. The labels attached to me - mother, daughter, wife, those I understood but who was Barbara?” The Ultimate Game of Life coaching program gave her a lifeline and she has not...

Jane Seskin, a licensed clinical social worker, is a prolific poet who, at age 80, published a collection of 89 poems in the book OLDER WISER SHORTER: The Truth and Humor of Life After 65. With humor and insight, Jane observes how she is learning to acknowledge, accommodate, and accept the vulnerabilities and new-found joys of aging. Early in her career as a therapist for crime victims, Jane witne...

Jan Shaw King, 71, is a strong, resilient woman whose courage led her to create illustrative works that live on in all of our memories. Her first mentor was her grandmother who taught her to see colors and shadows and be brave enough to follow her path. You may remember Ranger Bob and How the Big Bad Wolf Saved Christmas. Children’s stories make up a major part of her portfolio. Jan’s company, Wyl...

B. Rosemary Grant, PhD, Research Scholar Emerita at Princeton University, is world-renowned for 40 years of pioneering fieldwork, with her husband, Peter, on two uninhabited islands in the Galapagos archipelago. Their studies of Darwin’s finches in their natural environment have made enormous contributions to evolutionary biology and ecology. In her memoir- -One Step Sideways, Three Steps Forward-...

Holly Zeinfeld, 79, has moved 22 times and lived in 8 states during her marriage to Steve. They were partners in life and in work until he died a little over a year ago. Holly cared for him in home hospice for 7 years with periodic help from her son.  Everywhere Holly goes, she finds meaningful work to do and makes lifelong friends. She calls herself the Director of Intangibles. No fitness center...

Suzanne Rowen, age 72, has been climbing mountains in the Pacific Northwest for the past 30 years. Leading self and others are cross-over skills between mountaineering and working in high stakes crisis communications on Wall Street, Suzanne’s earlier life on the East Coast. She finds climbing mountains to be “equally intense and marvelously expansive.” As a dedicated mountaineer, Suzanne peaked al...

Wendy Cole, age 76, was 67 when she decided to live out in the world as the female she was born to be. As a young person, Wendy was informed by ‘authorities’ that she was a male with a psychological condition that was untreatable and uncurable; she was “a freak.” Wendy tells her story of living 45 years of repression while hiding her secret from the outside world. On the brink of suicide in 2014,...

Cynthia Bargar, 76 is the author of Sleeping in the Dead Girl’s Room (Lily Poetry Review Books), selected as a Massachusetts Book Awards 2023 Honors Poetry Book. Her poems have appeared or are forthcoming  in Sugar House Review, Ocean State Review, Lily Poetry Review, Verse Daily, On the Seawall, The Last Milkweed Anthology, and elsewhere. Cynthia is associate poetry editor at Pangyrus LitMag .  S...

On the northshore of Chicago, there has existed a magical boutique gift store for 37 years. Its name: The Yellow Bird. Recently the shopping center where it had thrived all those years, was sold to make room for new residential buildings and some commercial. Yellow Bird’s lease was over but Carol was not. Yellow Bird’s owner, Carol Schaner, 87, was not yet ready, however, to lock the door and walk...

Andrea Gilats—writer, educator, artist, yoga instructor—believes that “when one writes a memoir, one has to be oneself.” Andrea’s captivating new memoir, Radical Endurance: Growing Old in an Age of Longevity, reveals her journey of ‘discovery through the pitfalls and possibilities of aging.’ She reflects on dealing with prolonged grief following the early death of her husband, navigating serious c...

For 15 years, Karen Allen (age 73), actor and director of stage and film, and Sarah T. Schwab (age 39), writer, director and producer, have enjoyed collaborating on theatre and film productions, notably addressing oft-avoided discussions about dying and loss. Their award-winning film, A Stage of Twilight—written and directed by Sarah and starring Karen—is a “grass- roots awareness campaign for end...

Sharon A. Brangman, MD, Syracuse NY, is a geriatrician who has been a leader in the field of geriatrics for over two decades.  Her focus is directly on the phenomenon of normal cognitive aging, concentrating on prevention.  Dr. Brangman serves as Chair of the Department of Geriatrics, Director of the Center for Excellence for Alzheimer’s Disease and is a Distinguished Service Professor at Upstate...

From a very young age, Pamela Rand, 81, described herself as a comic, a clown, a funny kid who liked to make people laugh. She continues today to sing, dance, speak in multiple accents and create skits on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and TikTock. Laughing at herself is her prime mode of comedy.  In her early 20’s, Pamela went to Clown School in Paris where she journeyed within to discover her inne...

For 50 years, Marcia Naomi Berger, 79, has experienced a journey from madness to love and meaning. Her first manic episode was at 29, when she was already a well-respected licensed clinical social worker - an experienced psychotherapist well-trained in cognitive-behavioral, family systems, process, and psychodynamic approaches. She draws from many treatment approaches to fit the needs of her clien...

Anne Burke, age 80, retired Chief Justice of the Illinois Supreme Court, began her career as a physical education teacher, earned her undergraduate degree as an adult student at the School for New Learning/DePaul University, completed a law degree while raising four children, and created the Special Olympics. Her law practice centered on helping vulnerable children and citizens. Anne served on the...

Ruth Schimel, 84, has original ways to make the most of life’s possibilities. An author of over 70 published articles and seven books, she was previously a diplomat/foreign service officer at the Department of State. She has also taught at four universities. With her mother, Ruth created the Schimel Lode to promote collaboration and innovation in the DC area. In her 40’s, Ruth designed an inside-o...

Susan Baur, 84, has been a writer, historian and psychologist for 50 years. As a child, nothing grabbed her passion like listening to her father’s stories which seemed to describe other worlds that exist inside our own. Pursuing these other worlds ever since, the force of nature keeps pulling at her very being and led her first into an obsession with turtles and then to start removing garbage from...

Karen Ross, 76, is a champion who keeps reinventing herself. Self-confident, curious and proactive, Karen never stops finding new ways to stay involved, support herself and others, and meet interesting people. She thought she would be a musician and entered college intending to major in music. However, Broadway show music is what interested her and classical music was what the college preferred sh...

Elderwerks’ dynamic CEO and Founder, Jennifer Prell, understands older adults. She believes elders deserve respect and loving care. She gets worked up when talking about how difficult it often is for older people, no matter their income level, to find proper housing as they age. Adult children reach out because a parent is declining. That parent does not always recognize there is a problem and tha...

The hardest part of getting older is the realization that some dreams are never going to be realized. Some situations are not going to change. Jackie Greenbaum, however realistic she remains, has lived her life as though dreams are meant to be followed. Discouraged from a career in law at a young age, Jackie pursued teaching, only to find it unsatisfying for the world in which she wanted to live....

If we are looking for what we enjoy doing, then, logically, we’re going to be good at it. Joyful thoughts spiral upward. We are on this planet to love and be loved, to be truly authentic. Gail Sussman Miller, Inspired Choice.com, believes how we think, and communicate, is a key issue for leaders of organizations. She helps them manage difficult conversations, to listen not only to respond, but to...

Wendy Green, founder and host of Hey, Boomer,! knows about personal transformation first-hand and coaches women to “live the meaningful, purposeful life they want to live.” Wendy left the world of corporate training to focus on women’s experiences of growing older—as a coach, podcaster, show host, and blogger. Podcast guests, along with members of Boomer Banter, talk about a range of topics such a...

Sally Jean Fox’s 2023 book, Meeting the Muse After Midlife: A Journey to Meaning, Creativity, and Joy, tells her story of finding joy in being creative after 50, as she explored gardening, clowning, improv theatre, storytelling, and singing. Always keen on writing, Sally took up painting at age 69 and exhibited 30 paintings three years later. Although Sally now sees herself as an artist, she empha...

Cheri Boublis is Senior Director for Hospitality Services at Plymouth Place in LaGrange Park, Illinois, a model for active community living. Cheri collaborates with the leadership, residents, vendors, and the larger community to offer wide-ranging services for adults who choose a vibrant lifestyle. Choice is the guiding concept for most everything at Plymouth Place—design of living space, travel,...