Life in the Later Lane
Free speech and anti-war activist Sue Trupin found her niche caring for AIDS patients and supporting black grandmothers
Sue Trupin spent more than a decade living in a countercultural enclave in Canyon, a community in...
She’s a photographer and a flamenco dancer who fights to reduce maternal deaths in poor countries around the world
The difficulties that pregnant women face in impoverished parts of the world can seem overwhelming. But Stacey...
Cathedral Hill doctor became a leader in the treatment and prevention of AIDS.
As a boy, James Campbell spent after-school hours in his mother’s lab. Ruth Campbell was a doctor,...
Through one-man performances, son of Holocaust survivor shares history with high school students
It’s a shocking and head-spinning image: A Jew in a German officer’s uniform is being ministered to...
Being an ‘old soul’ isn’t just about age but an attitude – best nurtured by intergenerational contact
SF SENIORBEAT GUEST COLUMN – There’s a corner of Gen Z internet culture that has popularized the...
How a dedicated teacher of young children became a dedicated civic volunteer.
Sharon Yow’s father drove a truck and tried his hand at farming. Her mother worked a switchboard...
Famed boogie-woogie pianist embroiders her performances with her own hand-crafted art
Caroline Dahl has never forgotten the glamorous, red-haired woman in a sequined dress she saw at a...
The biggest, best walk – and bath of a lifetime.
Tina Martin SENIORBEAT GUEST COLUMN – I love San Francisco, and I love to walk. So when...
‘So hard, all the losses and pain:’ Personal and world tragedies led daughter of Holocaust survivors to life of helping others help others
Juliet Rothman was living in Annapolis, Maryland, in 1992 when her 21-year-old son Daniel attempted a double...
Rock ‘n’ roll and diamonds shaped the life of Arthur Indenbaum
By the time he was 12, Arthur Indenbaum had been playing the piano for four years and...
A lucky phone call steered him into a 54-year career as a shipping executive.
Tony Hanley felt stuck. He’d flunked out of San Francisco City College and was working at an...
He rode the rails, he slept on the streets, Kevin Fagan spent decades reporting on the homeless for the San Francisco Chronicle
It's a Friday night at Chief Sullivan’s, an Irish-themed bar in North Beach, and The Irish Newsboys...
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Circus Bella veteran juggler and ‘right-hand man’ keeps his family in on the act
Lots of parents talk about juggling responsibilities when it comes to their kids. Not so many literally juggle their kids. Carlo Gentile is one of the few. With much experience as a juggler, clown, unicyclist and diabolo artist, Gentile is now booking and production manager for Circus Bella, a “fiercely homegrown” San Francisco-based circus, where ...
Retired scientist, avid cyclist, and world traveler faces the challenge of Alzheimer’s
For many high school biology students, dissecting a frog is an unpleasant rite of passage. But for Shirley Lowe, the exploration of amphibian physiology “was fascinating, seeing all of its parts and how they were interconnected.” Her skill and enthusiasm led to a student award and a decision to major in clinical laboratory science in ...
A tale of love and lighting on Divisadero Street
How deeply did Yury Budovlya fall for Liya Klets, an 18-year-old Siberian beauty? When she traveled to his Ukrainian village, Korosten, from her native Siberian town of Novosibirsk for her uncle’s funeral in 1977, how soon did he know she was the one? Instantly. A metalworker, he’d been hired to fabricate the railing around her ...
“Mr. Mahjong” teaches San Francisco to love a 19th-century Chinese game
When Andrew Keeler was five, he would fall asleep in his living room to the sound of clacking tiles. His mother and her three women friends would call out in turn, “One bam, three crack, eight dot.” “I didn’t know what the words meant, but 40 years later, I found out,” Keeler said. They were ...
Practicality atop an adventurous spirit has Potrero Hill resident contemplating eventual move even as she continues to build community
Contact her at robinevans@sfseniorbeat.com. Even as she speaks, calmly, about uprooting herself from the neighborhood she’s lived in for 39 years, Audrey Cole is still organizing lunch potlucks, clothing swaps, and cocktail parties to bring people together. An invite to a recent cocktail party at her Potrero Hill home encouraged people to bring neighbors. There would ...
A face of medical care in the Mission, Kattia Balestier has been on the front lines for nearly 40 years
Contact her at naomimarcus@sfseniorbeat.com The patient stormed out of the doctor’s office and headed straight for the reception desk, banging on the plexiglass partition that separates patients from receptionists in this busy Mission District primary care practice. Kattia Balestier, the lead front desk worker, looked up calmly at the 60ish, red-faced, glowering man. “You were ...
