Fifty Plus Advocate

By Kate Tobiasson, Contributing Writer One Westborough resident has been quietly promoting female empowerment for years through a unique field: bees. Gerry Gross first found his passion for bees as a teenager in New York. “Back in high school I took advanced biology,” he said. “I learned about bee colonies and how the bees collaborated as a team. I went to...

By Victor Block, Travel Writer The contrast between members of the du Pont family who settled in Wilmington, Delaware and the surrounding Brandywine Valley at the turn of the 19th century, and those who toiled in the powder mills they founded, is one of numerous diversities that characterize the destination. The primary reason the area is a tourist magnet relates to...

By Janice Lindsay “We never saw those people, we don’t know them, we’ve never been where they live, they’ve never been here, so obviously they must have two heads. Or maybe they have only one head but only one eye. Or maybe one head and three eyes. They’re probably covered with feathers. Or fur.” For much of human history – until...

By Micha Shalev, MHA CDP CDCM Part two of two. Part one was in the October issue of the Fifty Plus Advocate and can also be found online at Fifty Plus Advocate. When families and seniors select a long term care community, it’s a momentous, life changing decision. You want to get it right the first time. It can be...

By Mike Festa, State Director, AARP, Massachusetts A new survey released by AARP Foundation, “Loneliness and Social Connections: A National Survey of Adults 45 and Older,” finds that 1 in 3 U.S. adults age 45 and older are lonely. While the percentage is unchanged from a previous loneliness study conducted by AARP Research in 2010, approximately five million more midlife...

By Jane Keller Gordon, Assistant Editor Newton - You don’t have to be a star athlete to benefit from the deep nutritional knowledge of sports dietitian Nancy Clark, a board certified specialist in sports dietetics. You just need to want to live a healthier life. Clark’s primary goal is helping people find “peace” with food and fitness. “The ‘e’ in eating is...

By Bonnie Adams, Managing Editor Many people throughout their careers change jobs at least several times. Cheryl Digaetano McPhee of Whitman has done not only that but has also changed her career path, earning degrees and certificates along the way. But now her first love, art, combined with her passion for education, has brought her full circle, as a teacher...

By Ed Karvoski Jr., Culture Writer Shrewsbury – Community-minded couple Joanne and George Smith of Shrewsbury are focused on finding ways to foster the town’s performing arts programs. Their volunteer efforts for several years benefited the Shrewsbury public schools’ performing arts department. Now, they’re fulfilling various behind-the-scenes responsibilities with the Shrewsbury-based community theater group, Regatta Players. When their son, Justin, entered...

By Ed Karvoski Jr., Culture Editor Waltham – While J.T. Turner of Waltham performs voice-over work for films and television, he’s continuing to add credits to his resume for playing iconic musical-comedy roles at regional theaters. Concurrently, he’s entertaining and educating audiences with his portrayals of historical figures. Performing onstage became Turner’s passion while attending high school in New Jersey. His...

  By Janice Lindsay I once conducted a Lindsay Food Preference E-Mail Survey. After answering the one-question survey, one participant wrote, “I can hear my arteries clogging and I’m getting very hungry.” The survey question was: “What foods would you eat if you base your choice only on how much you enjoy eating them?” In other words, assume, for a moment, the following....