Leona and her cat
Loving companions

A few months ago, I wrote a blog post about research on macular degeneration that was being done at the MDI Biological Laboratory in Bar Harbor. I always like to include personal stories, so I contacted The Iris Network in Portland, to see if they could find me a client to interview. They introduced me to Leona.

During our interview, I told Leona about my new podcast Conversations About Aging and how I planned to travel the state and interview people 60+ about their perspectives on aging. Right away she said she’d loved to participate.

A few weeks later, I visited her in Portland apartment where she lives with her two cats, surrounded by lots of interesting things: artwork, sculpture, framed letters from famous people, quilts she had made, campaign and other political buttons she had collected. I had a wonderful time and I think she did, too. That’s one of the big perks associated withConversations About Aging — getting to connect with people one-on-one.

Listen to my conversation with Leona

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A few pictures

Leona and a quilt
Hand made by Leona
Letter from Harry Truman
Letter from Harry Truman
Leona with Hillary Clinton
With Hillary Clinton
Button collection
Leona’s button collection
Leona's letter to the editor
Excerpt from letter to the Portland Press Herald
Leona's last quilt
The last quilt Leona made. It had to be sewn together by someone else because she couldn’t see well enough anymore.

Who’s next?

Conversations About Aging airs every other Monday. My next conversation is with Wayne, who’s 64 and discovered that being over 60 presented some unexpected challenges when he was looking for a new job.

If you have any suggestions for people I should consider interviewing or want to let me know about a helpful aging resource in your community, let me know. In addition to the podcast, I intend to blog about what various communities, organizations, and individuals are doing to provide services, support, and connection.

And if you’re interested in helping to build community around this podcast, please share the episodes. Feel free to also suggest other ways we might share these stories. The best way to get in touch is to send me an email. Thank you!