About Me

Before my recent retirement from the Advisory Council at my local Area Agency on Aging, I created a program, “Driving Safely as We Age”, to help families and older drivers at risk find a safe and dignified transition from driving - facilitated discussions and follow through with Advance Health Care Directives - advocated for older individuals who suffered prescription drug addiction and/or alcohol and other drug dependence - co-created and helped facilitate a year-long workshop entitled Planning for Your Longevity.

I am currently a volunteer grief counselor at my local Hospice organization; have recently published a book, “Following the Bouncing Ball”, and will continue with research and writing on the theme of Aging as Renaissance.

Covid isolation was very helpful in getting my legacy book published; and, with the advent of elder zoom groups that had formerly met in person, it was possible to continue the conversation about mutual experiences of the aging process. Our discussions are rich with exploration and support.

This blog, although an interface with my book, is primarily an invitation for you to join in our discussion about your experience of aging.

In my youth I would have insisted that I did not ask to be born to a teen-aged mother, without the presence of a father, in poverty and visually impaired, in 1935 Macon, Georgia. But now, I'm not so sure I didn't pre-order this life exactly as it has come to pass. My learning from adversity has been a blessing, and I don't know how else it could have been achieved.

I was brought out of Georgia to Marin County, California, in 1944, (by a serviceman step father) and there began a life-long struggle to be seen as normal. I bluffed my way through grammar and high school, but could not engage in college course work due to my eyesight. Nevertheless, determined to succeed at something, I risked driving to support a wide variety of job experiences, ever searching for a way to make a living. In the post war years of my youth, there really was no alternative. Then, years later, while single parenting with my baby son, I tearfully accepted the disability label and the stipend that came with it. I traveled to Mexico, apprenticed to a uniquely talented maestro of building furniture and stringed instruments, and thus began a twenty-five year love affair with woodworking. However, in 1991, my discovery of computer technology as a window into higher education changed everything. My intellectual awakening was dramatic. Even so, my rapid academic success, BA, MA, and almost PhD in Clinical Psychology was, by this time, secondary to a dawning elder awareness and the poetry of spiritual growth. To be of service to senior citizens as volunteer advocate and educator became a primary goal. I was deeply hopeful that the Longevity Revolution would change the world, but that remains a dream.