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
WRITER'S NOTE: Arthur Indenbaum died on November 28, 2025, with his wife and daughter by his side....
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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His daughter wanted to play soccer, so he started an all-girls team; last month, they took on the Chinese women’s national team.
Two women’s soccer teams face off at Kezar Stadium. One is local, the other a world-class opponent. With the game tied 1-1, the SF Nighthawks‘ forward head-butts the ball, sending it off at a 90-degree angle. Her teammate corrals the pass and aims a swift kick toward the goal. It misses, but a cheer resounds ...
Radiologist who served his country in public health rather than battleground revisits Vietnam War era in one-man play
If you ask Edward Lebowitz why he went to medical school, you might be surprised by his answer: the war in Vietnam. “This was the greatest influence on my decision to become a doctor,” said Lebowitz, now 75 and a clinical professor of radiology at Stanford University. “I have no idea what I would have ...
Longtime owner of Inner Richmond neighborhood bar keeps the Irish flowing
It’s 5 o’clock on a Friday evening and customers are just starting to crowd into O’Keeffe’s, a no-apologies Irish bar in the Inner Richmond. Annie O’Keeffe, the diminutive owner, is serving up $4 beers and $6 shots of whiskey. It’s not too busy yet, so she takes a couple of minutes to fetch a bowl ...
Was it the coffee stain, the thick glasses or maybe the Kleenex? Recovering my cool after a brush with feeling old
A SENIOR BEAT COLUMN When I came back from the mall today, I sat down on a bench outside my apartment building, taking in the sun. After a minute, I took off my mask and tapped out a couple of tortilla chip crumbs. I brushed a couple more from the sides of my mouth. Then ...
Chinese immigrant whose motto is ‘seize opportunity, work hard, take risks,’ finds success as nursing assistant, caregiver
Yanzhen Guo and her family moved to San Francisco in 2011. Like many newly arrived immigrants, they couldn’t afford a home of their own, lacked marketable job skills and spoke limited English. Eleven years later, the family is living in a two-story townhouse in Hunters Point. Guo is now a licensed nursing assistant, works steadily ...
Mom and I had vastly different dress styles: elegant tops and skirts vs. cargo pants and T-shirts. As we’ve aged, we’ve swapped
A SENIOR BEAT COLUMN It got hot in Carmel, and I was wearing my San Francisco fog clothes: jeans, turtleneck, sweatshirt. I’d left the misty, chilly city in early morning darkness and driven 125 miles south to visit my invalid mom, 95, at my childhood home in Carmel-by-the-Sea. Oddly, despite the coastal closeness, it was ...
