Aging Well: Finding Beauty in the Gray
Aging Well: Finding Beauty in the Gray is a podcast for everyone in or approaching the retirement years. There’s a lot to unpack here apart from the financial planning component, and we’ll do just that. We’ll explore new interests, priorities and goals and finding purpose for ourselves and in our relationships. Join me each episode as I share stories and chat with guests learning to live their best next act, lives. Have a question or comment? Please reach out to me, Hugh Willard, at willowwaycreations@gmail.com or via any of the social media links at the top of this page.
Episodes
108 episodes
Next Steps: Hugh Willard brings 3 years of the Aging Well podcast to a close...for now.
The Aging Well: Finding Beauty in the Gray podcast has been privileged to share the stories and expertise of many Third Agers to an ever expanding, loyal and loving, international audience. At this time, Hugh is turning his time and energies to...
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Season 3
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Episode 30
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14:43
One Step at a Time: Mike McKinney and the hiker's path to health and healing
Mike McKinney is a retired first responder. He served in several capacities and roles over the course of his career. Originally from Springfield Illinois, he and his wife decided to move to follow their kids an grandkids to central NC at the cl...
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Season 3
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Episode 29
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26:51
Finding and Following Her Bliss: Author Niamh McAnally Life's Journey
Niamh McAnally is an Irish-born bestselling author, keynote & corporate speaker, former TV director, and youngest daughter of the late BAFTA award-winning actor, Ray McAnally, and actor, Ronnie Masterson. Niamh has traveled all over the ...
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Season 3
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Episode 28
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36:08
Great Trips: Dr. Carolee Duckworth and the value of presence in new places
Dr. Carolee Duckworth is a talented and creative woman of numerous skills and interests. She is an author of many books and articles including Shifting Gears to Your Life and Work After Retirement that she co-wrote wit...
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Season 3
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Episode 27
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35:40
Hometown America Movie Magic: Professor Benita VanWinkle and her passion for historic movie theaters
Benita VanWinkle is a national and internationally exhibited and award winning artist and photographer. She is also an Associate Professor of Art at High Point University in North Carolina. Her passion project for many years has been to photogr...
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Season 3
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Episode 26
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35:55
Keep, Donate, or Toss?: Jeannine Bryant and the Art of Rightsizing
Jeannine Bryant is an expert at helping seniors and their families through times of transition. As the owner of Easyrightsizing and Changing Spaces SRS, a senior move management company in Lincoln, Nebraska, she and her team are proud to provid...
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Season 3
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Episode 25
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29:42
Coming Back To The Land For The First Time: Bestselling author Jeanne Blasberg and life on the Flynn Creek Farm
Jeanne Blasberg has always been a writer. She is the bestselling and award-winning author of Eden; The Nine; and her latest novel, Daughter of a Promise. Most recently, she has reinvented herself through regenerative ...
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Season 3
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Episode 24
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32:06
"We aspire to inspire before we expire!": Sherry Cantrell and the Sun City Poms
Sherry Cantrell is a child of the speedway and from Speedway. That is the town and the home of the Indy 500 where her stepdad and mom worked. Sherry did not follow in the family footsteps literally, but she has led a full life culminating in he...
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Season 3
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Episode 23
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36:58
Hiking For You, Me, and the Whole Average Gang: Nicola Ross shows us the way.
Never imagine yourself hiking the Appalachian Trail, The Pacific Coast Trail, or The Salt Path? Great! Nicola Ross is an environmentalist, National Magazine Award–winning journalist, and the bestselling author of six Loops & Lattes...
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Season 3
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Episode 22
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32:45
Life and Times on the Farm: Barbara McLean's 50-year odyssey with sheep, nature, and change
Barbara McLean and her partner, Thomas, have a 50-year career overseeing their sheep farm, aptly titled Lambsquarters, in Ontario, Canada. Alongside the constancy of this farm’s work, Barbara is a spinner and weaver. She taught English and Gend...
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Season 3
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Episode 21
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31:56
Soaring On Matriarchal Winds: Author and artist Mary Carroll Moore charts her second-act course.
Mary Carroll Moore is a bestselling and award-winning author of 14 books in three genres, including the PEN/Faulkner and Lambda Literary Awards nominated young adult novel, Qualities of Light. This is the prequel to A Woman's Guide...
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Season 3
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Episode 20
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35:09
Are the Stars Out Tonight? Vermadel Nienstedt and the Crystal Coast Stargazers
Vermadel Nienstedt was raised in Beaufort, North Carolina. She and her husband Jimmy lived in Columbia, South Carolina for 30 years before returning to coastal North Carolina. In retirement, the pair have reinforced their love of the nigh...
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Season 3
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Episode 19
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26:48
Keep Moving!: Maria Fernandez with Older, Fitter, Stronger
Out of her own health challenges in her younger years, Maria Fernandez turned into the intentional path of greater health. For the past 18 years, she has been a Personal Trainer and Yoga teacher in the United Kingdom. She has a particular love ...
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Season 3
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Episode 18
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28:56
The Legacy of Good People: Fred Surgeon's Dinosaurs Delight at the Sweet Valley Ranch
Fred Surgeon is a man of many talents, all driven by his late father's desire that Fred and his siblings be "good people." Through his extensive involvement in the community, in mental health services, and in environmental education, Fred and h...
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Season 3
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Episode 17
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29:50
Steadying Roots: Hugh Willard reads a few essays from his book Finding Beauty in the Gray
Have you read Hugh's book, Finding Beauty in the Gray yet? Join us on the Aging Well: Finding Beauty in the Gray podcast as Hugh takes time to read a few essays from his book that speak to our need for self- and other-care through thes...
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Season 3
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Episode 16
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20:38
A Four Season Life: Marianne Borowski and the Cross New Hampshire Adventure Trail
Marianne Borowski is a retired biochemist and lifelong biker. She has riddencross country and on rail trails all over the U.S. In 2017, she developed the Cross New Hampshire Adventure Trail. Walkers, bikers, runners, skiers, and horse ...
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Season 3
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Episode 15
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33:54
All Aboard! Neil Bromilow and the Gibsonville Garden Railroad
Neil Bromilow is a widower, father, grandfather, and twice retired civil engineer. "Retired" is a very relative term as Neil has remained quite active in a number of civic and community pursuits in the Central North Carolina town of Gibsonville...
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Season 3
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Episode 14
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35:53
Funny Business Down on the Farm: Laurie Zaleski and the Funny Farm Rescue & Sanctuary
For over 20 years, Laurie Zaleski has taken her late mother's dream and made it her own. Today, this graphic design small business owner, pilot, author, and founder of the Funny Farm Rescue & Sanctuary, heads a host of volunteers in caring ...
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Season 3
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Episode 13
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32:23
In Every Language, A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words: Filipino multimedia artist Eliseo Art Silva
Eliseo Art Silva is a contemporary multimedia artist in L.A. who weaves his Filipino heritage into his art, fostering community connection and compassionate interaction. His passion and his mission are to share the Filipino experience and it's ...
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Season 3
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Episode 12
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33:58
A Considerable Age: Writer Alice Goldbloom and her journey through family stories.
Alice Goldbloom, a longtime Montrealer, has been writing her whole career—mundane government, business, and consulting documents of every kind. In 2020, with a fulfilling career behind her and two children semi-launched into the world, she b...
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Season 3
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Episode 11
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36:40
Earth Day Every Day with Naturalist Kim Hainge
Join us as we celebrate Earth Day 2024 with naturalist, entomologist, and trail keeper Kim Hainge. Kim lives on a 36 acre United Plant Savers Sanctuary in the Great Smoky Mountains of North Carolina with her botanist husband, Jim. Here she host...
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Season 3
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Episode 10
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29:41
The Alphabet Woods: Debut author Jenny Poelman and her enthusiasm for life.
Jenny Poelman, 66, became a published author for the first time last year. Jenny spent most of her childhood in South Korea with her missionary family. Nowadays, she and her husband, Ken, divide their time between North Carolina and Montana. Wh...
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Season 3
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Episode 9
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32:06
All the World's A Stage: Actor, director, and professor Jonathan Ray and his latest turn in the lights.
Jonathon Ray made his stage debut as a child at the historic Flat Rock Playhouse in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. He has taught theater and communications courses at several colleges and universities for many years, incl...
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Season 3
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Episode 8
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33:45
"Age is Just A Number, Not A Label.": Cheryl Beversdorf and the AGING MATTERS media
Cheryl Beversdorf brings several of her talents together, along with her passion, to produce and host the AGING MATTERS weekly radio program, podcasts, and television show. Cheryl is a veteran, RN, not-for-profit association executive, and publ...
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Season 3
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Episode 7
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38:29
Sugar Plum Fairies Emigrate to Western North Carolina: Chocolatier Steve Baxley and Legacy of Sweets
In picturesque downtown Sylva in the Great Smoky Mountains of North Carolina, there is a three generation chocolate-making legacy that is Baxley's Chocolates. The middle tier of this legacy, Steve Baxley, son of Russell, husband of Beth, and fa...
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Season 3
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Episode 6
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37:17