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
Violinist turns 1920 house grandpa ‘Moff’ built into center for teaching and performance
A baby grand piano resides regally in one corner of the great room of the white-washed, brick Spanish Colonial that in 1920 was the highest dwelling on Twin Peaks, the second highest hill in the city. It was built by Edward Moffitt, maternal grandfather to Lynn Oakley, its present resident. “It was like entering a ...
A Pope’s order reroutes a nun’s predictable routine: From parish schools to Third World deprivation and revolution
When she was 30, Frances Payne’s life was orderly, predictable and sheltered. She was a Catholic nun, teaching second and fourth graders in her hometown parish in Detroit. But her life took a radical and unexpected turn when she was ordered by the Church to serve in La Paz, Bolivia. Now 87, Payne smiles as ...
El Salvadoran community friendships make up for minimum-wage jobs and meager housing over immigrant’s 36 years in San Francisco
Can anyone live in San Francisco on a Social Security check of $350 a month? People do. Jose Mauricio Montes does. He barely manages by selling natural aloe vera shampoos and soaps off a card table near a friend’s bakery. “My sleep is often robbed from me, as my mind worries about paying rent,” he ...
She persisted: After chilly entry to San Francisco, disability specialist now on three city commissions and living happily in senior housing.
Terry Bohrer didn’t get the warm welcome she had hoped for when she moved to San Francisco. Like many new arrivals, she found the city a tough place to make friends. She and her husband joined clubs, took adult classes, and even threw parties in their apartment –to no avail. “We were lonely,” she said. ...
What’s your fashion flavor? I’m happy Birkenstock sandals are back in favor.
The waist has left me. The arms will never meet another sleeveless blouse. But the changes in my body don’t deter me from still being interested in fashion. I dress conservatively in monotones, but I want to step outside my comfort zone and add some flair and – gasp! – color. So, I looked around ...
Innovative use of new types of fabric put designer’s creations on the haute couture map
Technological innovation, but not the kind built on bits and bytes, helped launch the career of San Francisco fashionista Julienne Weston. Her mastery of the overlock sewing machine (or, serger) and her embrace of cotton Lycra, a stretchy blend of natural fibers and spandex invented in 1980, made her creations stand out as she built ...
