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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He fought for our country, then battled for dignity and justice for its veterans
Michael Blecker joined the army in 1967 to get out of Reading, Pa. “Our generation’s model of manhood was the early John Wayne war movies: Wayne never flinched and always won, that’s what we wanted. Plus the GI Bill made the Army very attractive.” Nine years later, as a law student at the activist New ...
Chance encounter with a Curry Center worker lifts bipolar sufferer back to engaged life with a new friend
CREATING COMMUNITY – Depression and confusion marked the first decades of Ray Walsh’s life. Only recently has the 66-year-old begun to feel free from the demons that controlled him. A San Francisco native, Walsh dropped out of school at 18, hoping to make it as a musician. He studied piano as a child and picked ...
Child of sharecropper and housecleaner in segregated Alabama felt destined for a better future
Mary Crenshaw came of age in segregated southern Alabama in the ‘50s, just prior to the turbulent Civil Rights Era. Her father was a sharecropper on a white person’s farm and her mother did day work for white people. But Crenshaw saw different a life for herself. “I’m a believer in that some things you ...
Stanford business grads launch service so busy young adults can help aging parents
Mon ami is a matching service for older adults. But it’s not for romance; it pairs them with college students for companionship. The start-up launched on the Peninsula and recently expanded to San Francisco and the Bay Area. Founders Joy Zhang and Madeline Dangerfield met at an orientation for new students entering Stanford’s Graduate School ...
Vision loss ‘like moving to a foreign country’ – but plenty of help available to learn the language
When Susan Kitazawa started losing her sight 15 years ago, one of the first things she started to do was self-monitor her driving. She restricted herself to places she felt more comfortable driving: only in the daytime, not in the rain, not on the freeways. And she asked for help. “I asked three friends of ...
Get testing, counseling, training then go shopping at Lighthouse’s store for low- and hi-tech vision aids
I kept looking for the brightness button on my TV to lighten up scenes that seemed to be filmed in the dead of night. Unfortunately, there’s no “time for cataracts surgery” pop-up message on the screen, even on the smartest TV. Apparently I’m not alone. About 10 percent of adult Americans 18 and older (some 26.9 ...
