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...
All Posts
Unable to get a real job, a young Marty Nemko set about to reinvent himself; now the career advisor is famous
Marty Nemko was on a fast track to become a professor. He earned a doctorate in educational psychology from the University of California-Berkeley, was nominated for the school’s “Dissertation of the Year” and was looking forward to a long and storied career. But after sending out over 100 resumes, he only got offers for temporary, ...
Searching for ways to cope, twice laid-off worker envisions role for community libraries
Mimi Tong, 67, didn’t plan to stop working when she was laid off from her job as an administrative assistant at the University of California San Francisco, but after three years in the job market, she became what economists call an involuntary retiree, a pushout. With the job search behind her, Tong started building ...
Kaiser manager took early retirement to lock in changing benefits and look for new job
John Edmiston knows what it’s like to look for work and be rejected. At 66, he’s savvy enough to know that seeking “someone with less experience” was a way of saying he was too old. But that experience has proven valuable in the job he eventually found. He’s now a job placement specialist for SF ...
Seniors Say … senior? elder? old person? What’s in a name?
EDITOR’S NOTE: In this series, we get the thoughts and reactions of people 50 and older to a variety of everyday issues. If you or anyone you know would be willing to field some questions, email maryhunt@sfseniorbeat.com or rebeccalum@sfseniorbeat.com. Story and photographs by Mary Hunt and Rebecca Rosen Lum Question: You’re over 55 – old ...
Employment lawyer fighting to ‘balance the scale between the powerful and powerless’
Roderick P. Bushnell never faced age discrimination himself. But he has dedicated the latter part of his legal career to defending people who have. Still, he has experienced what it does to older workers when they lose their job. He was a teenager when his father was fired at the age of 50. “My father ...
Foster grandparent goes extra mile to help at-risk children – whose determination ‘never fails to amaze’
When Carol Chuo retired in 2017, she decided to “take what I know and turn it into pure fun.” Having spent 23 years working and playing with children as a teacher’s assistant for the San Francisco School District, raising two daughters along with five grandchildren, she volunteered to be a foster grandparent. She said it was ...
