Life in the Later Lane
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...
Early computer nerd – now a regular at future-focused public space with bar – slowly realized he “was in the middle of something big”
Contact her at myrakrieger@sfseniorbeat.com When Theo Armour was a young boy, he played a lot, but not with...
Out of the classroom and onto the airplane. Peter Mundy takes his middle-school students around the world.
Peter Mundy wants nothing more than to educate, motivate, and mentor his young students -- and to...
A life of resilience: Escaping Soviet antisemitism, Tatyana Yasnovsky built a life in San Francisco as she practiced psychiatry
For Tatyana Yasnovsky, a retired psychiatrist and émigré from the former Soviet Union, her arrival in America...
Things of heaven and earth – but mostly earth – have captivated neuropsychologist who once pondered the priesthood
When he retired in 2009, Charles Vella began volunteering at the California Academy of Sciences. He became...
With more than 28,000 movies and TV shows on hand, Colin Hutton’s Video Wave store has survived the onslaught of Netflix and Amazon Prime
It was a rainy winter afternoon, and it wasn’t until Video Wave, the last standalone movie rental...
Sixty years later, a writer returns to her childhood home in Mexico and savors the sights, smells and flavors of a changed San Miguel de Allende
Have you ever wondered about retiring to Mexico? Not me, no expat life for me. But I...
‘Wild writing’ softens clinical healthcare leader’s shift to solo career and enriches retirement
Kathryn Santana Goldman showed an affinity for science as early as grammar school when she captured and...
Host of group that supports women forge new life after retirement fitting out her Dodge van to recapture the joys of childhood camping
It’s 11 o’clock on a Saturday morning and Janice Wallace is on Zoom hosting the Bay Area...
Retirement sends Vonn Scott Bair full speed into long days as actor, playwright and game developer
"Do what you want, and you will never work a day in your life." That old adage,...
All Posts
Urban Alchemy helps the formerly incarcerated find stability while as ‘practitioners,’ they help stabilize the Tenderloin
It’s the day after Thanksgiving and Chris Purcell’s corner of the Tenderloin is uncharacteristically quiet. There’s a couple of young men sitting in the gutter smoking weed, a few homeless people pushing loaded shopping carts, and the occasional loud argument on the street. “The weed smokers don’t bother us; we’re not here to bust chops,” ...
Before ‘Riverdance,’ Irish dance school owner was learning the steps as soon as she could walk
“Riverdance,” the phenomenal stage performance of floor-pounding Irish stepdance hit American shores in 1996. But Irish dance had been in Mary Jo Murphy-Feeney’s bones for half a century. “My mother taught me to step dance as soon as I could walk,” she said. For the Irish, step-dancing has been as much a part of life ...
Not inclined to settle down, world traveler has lived from far north to far south and sometimes in between
Brenda Joyce travels light. Her one piece of luggage – a black suitcase – at the ready, the peripatetic 82-year-old divides her time between San Francisco and Chiang Mai, Thailand. They’re just two of the stops on a global itinerary that has taken her to the literal ends of the earth – the Arctic and ...
Deciding ‘that’s not who I am,’ heavy drinker quits then uses his experience – of trauma, homelessness, addiction – to help others
It’s not quite six o’clock on a June morning in 2021, and the fire alarm was going off yet again in the building Paul Hickman had called home since 1996. “Stay or go?” he asked himself, remembering the many times he wandered downstairs, responding dutifully to the frequent false alarms. Then came a pounding on ...
Curry Senior Center tech program for low-income seniors turns one into a ‘Zoom-aholic’ and helps another stay on top of multiple medical issues
The consumer technology many of us take for granted is more than a convenience for Dan Jordan: It keeps him healthier, less isolated and connected to friends, relatives and caregivers in a way he’s never experienced. “I’m happier, more efficient and more knowledgeable,” he said. Important chores like staying on top of medical appointments, prescription ...
Life experiences drew her to challenging work: special ed teacher, domestic abuse counselor and senior center volunteer
As a child, Darlene Crisp watched her mother spoon-feed and pillow-prop her brother. Born with muscular dystrophy, he needed care 24-7. Decades later – Crisp is now 79 – memories of David, who died at 28, persist. At a younger age, they led her to a career in special education. “I wanted to be a ...
