THE GROWING BOLDER AWARDS CAREGIVERS AND ADVOCATES
Rebranding Aging®
AN 'OLD SOLDIER' BREAKS WAR'S SILENCE FIGURE SKATING: NOT AN IMPOSSIBLE DREAM
BROADWAY LEGEND GETS AN ENCORE At 84, Chita Rivera Is Living in the Moment and Still Wowing Audiences.
CONTENTS NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2016
FEATURE
CHITA: NOWADAYS
DEPARTMENTS 5 | FROM THE EDITOR
12
6 | GROWING BOLDER WITH ...
20 | NEVER TOO LATE ® A photographer in pursuit of the ultimate strike. By Bill Shafer
7 | THE FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH Finally, making her ice-skating daydream come true. By Bill Shafer
22 | ROCK STARS OF AGING A 102-year-old teacher’s advice for happiness. By Marc Middleton
8 | ROAD TO RECOVERY Three things healthcare consumers should know. By Robert Masson, M.D.
26 | Growing Bolder Caregiving Institute One way to confront the monster under the bed. By Marc Middleton
Musical Theater Legend Chita Rivera Says This Very Moment is the Best Time of Her Life. BY JACKIE CARLIN
THE GROWING BOLDER AWARDS CAREGIVERS AND ADVOCATES
REBRANDING AGING®
AN 'OLD SOLDIER' BREAKS WAR'S SILENCE
®
10 | 5 QUESTIONS A soldier shares his experiences to help others talk about war. By Jackie Carlin 18 | GROWING BOLDER FINANCIAL INSTITUTE Financial life lessons from the frontlines. By Jackie Carlin 4 GROWING BOLDER
®
28 | SURVIVING & THRIVING ® What to do when you are your own biggest obstacle. By Bill Shafer 30 | THE TAKEAWAY Caregivers must become advocates for their loved ones. Amy O'Rourke
FIGURE SKATING: NOT AN IMPOSSIBLE DREAM
BROADWAY LEGEND GETS AN ENCORE At 84, Chita Rivera Is Living in the Moment and Still Wowing Audiences.
ON THE COVER: Broadway icon Chita Rivera is 84 years old, but she's still entertaining her longtime fans — and making new ones — with a show called Nowadays. Cover and Table of Contents photos by Laura Marie Duncan NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2016
FROM THE EDITOR
Editor-in-Chief Marc Middleton Managing Editor Jackie Carlin Associate Editors Bill Shafer, Katy Widrick Contributing Writers Robert Masson, M.D., Amy Cameron O’Rourke Additional Photography Laura Marie Duncan, Friedman-Abeles, Ken Howard, Martha Swope Digital Development and Production Jason Morrow, Pat Narciso, Josh Doolittle, Mike Nanus Director of Circulation Jill Middleton
407-406-5910 One Purlieu Place, Suite 139 Winter Park, FL 32792 GrowingBolderMagazine.com All editorial content copyright 2016 by Bolder Broadcasting Inc. Growing Bolder is a registered trademark of Bolder Broadcasting Inc. Nothing may be reprinted in part or in whole without written permission from Bolder Broadcasting Inc.
PUBLISHED IN ASSOCIATION WITH
FLORIDA HOME MEDIA Group Publisher Randy Noles Art Director Jenna Carberg CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Harry Wessel Florida Home Media’s Family of Publications: THE OVIEDO-AREA BOOM SPACE-AGE HOME TECHNOLOGY
HOMEBUYER ORLANDO FLORIDA
BEST NEW-HOME MAGAZINE WINNER SINCE 2004
artsLife
A PLAYBOOK FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE
A
s we hope you know by now, Growing Bolder is not about denying aging or pretending that we don’t all go through significant changes and challenges as we age. Growing Bolder is not about defeating aging and becoming ageless. We’re all mortal beings. Aging, decline and ultimately death are inescapable facts of life. But just because we can’t defeat aging doesn’t mean that we have to run from it. Growing Bolder is about overcoming the dangerous and debilitating stereotypes of age, and embracing the nearly limitless opportunities of age. It’s a playbook for making the rest of your life the best of your life — at any age. It’s rejecting the notion that aging is a disease, and embracing the fact that it’s an opportunity. Sadly, some take a strange and tragic comfort in believing that it’s too late to reinvent themselves, to pursue missed opportunities or to cultivate new passions. Change involves risk. Learning involves failure. To many, new opportunities only mean new opportunities for disappointment. They prefer to believe that they’re beyond the age of possibility. They’ve come to enjoy the certainty of the cage that confines them. You’ve seen the prison movies. The old guys who are paroled after spending decades behind bars almost never want their freedom. They’ve lost the ability to make decisions for themselves, and are now comforted by their cage. But that’s not living. That’s simply existing while serving a life sentence. As 10,000 of us turn 65 each and every day, we’ve reached a tipping point, a critical juncture in our evolution as a society that will, to a large degree, inform the future of aging around the world for many generations. Will we celebrate or denigrate? Will we withdraw and allow our world to shrink, or will we advance and empower our world to grow? Will we live a life of passion, or serve a life sentence? Will we start Growing Bolder or simply continue growing older?
FALL 2016
Inside the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts
JULY/AUGUST/SEPTEMBER JULY/AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2016 2016 thefloridahomebuyer.com thefloridahomebuyer.com
PRINCELY WILLIAM
The kitchen in the William model at Black Lake Preserve in Winter Garden.
Knowles Memorial Chapel, by Edie Showalter Fagan
Fall 2016 | $3.99
SPECIal ISSUE: WINTER PaRK Hall OF FaME, ClaSS OF 2016
400 NEW HOMES READY NOW
In Print and Online
Royal Oak Homes’ Most Spacious Model. Model
NEW-HOME LISTINGS SPONSORED BY:
TRUSTCO BANK Your Home Town Bank R
A DAZZLING NEW SEASON
THE BIGGEST HITS ON BROADWAY ARE HEADED TO ORLANDO.
MEDICAL CITY UPDATE
Our annual look at what’s new in and around Lake Nona.
SCHOOL’S IN • ALVIN AILEY • AMOUR’S INTERNATIONAL SUPERSTARS
407-647-0225 2700 Westhall Lane, Suite 220 Maitland, FL 32751 GROWINGBOLDERMAGAZINE.COM
Marc Middleton, Editor-in-Chief marcmiddleton@growingbolder.com GROWING BOLDER 5
GROWING BOLDER WITH
JIMMY OSMOND
53
Entertainer
“I’ve been in the business 50 years. I don’t say that with a badge of honor. I’m just shocked. I never thought show business would ever last for me, so I never took myself too seriously. I was the brunt of a lot of jokes growing up, because I was on TV all the time as a little kid. I just learned to roll with it. I was always open to try anything behind the scenes and, as a result, I ended up doing a lot of different jobs. I don’t have to be the star or anything. I just love being a part of the team. I feel so blessed with this life.”
Jimmy Osmond, the youngest member of the famed singing family, made his debut on The Andy Williams Show at the age of 3. Now, 50 years later, he’s paying tribute to Williams with his act, Moon River and Me. Osmond received his first Gold record at the age of 5, becoming the first Osmond to earn one.
BETSY HUGHES
55
Co-owner, Track Shack
“When I was in sixth grade, I was always the last to get picked for every sports team. The teacher made me captain just so I’d be on the team. When I was in high school, I started running, primarily to exercise, and I even joined the track team. I was never super-fast, but I was consistent, and I loved the feeling running gave me. My mom, who was 50, started running, too, when she saw how much I enjoyed it. She went on to do marathons in her 60s and 70s. She’s 87 now, and she’s still walking the neighborhoods. Running gives me a peace of mind — and a greater energy level to get through the day. I was lucky enough to meet and marry another runner, and we’ve made it our life’s dream.”
Together with her husband, Jon, Betsy Hughes has helped turn Track Shack from a running store into worldwide leader in running and fitness. The company will soon celebrate its 40th anniversary. Since then, it’s helped tens of thousands of walkers and runners finish their first events and incorporate fitness into their everyday lives.
LARRY ‘PRESKOOL’ WEISSMAN
66
DJ
“When I was still working for Wells Fargo, I learned how to DJ on the side, just as a hobby. As I got close to retirement, I realized I’m not the type of person who wants to hang out on a golf course. So I went to DJ school, and it’s been tremendous. I’ve never once felt like anyone was resentful of me being there because of my age, even though I was older than all my teachers, too. I play house music, and my shows are filled mostly with young people. I get to connect with them and share our love of music and dancing, which is what I was doing when I was 18. It keeps you feeling younger!”
Larry Weissman spent his early years putting on hundreds of concerts in San Francisco in the 1960s. He then “grew up” and got a job, working his way up to vice president of technology for Wells Fargo. Now he’s back to doing what he loves most — he’s immersed in music once again, this time dropping the beats for a new generation of music lovers as DJ PreSkool.
GB EXTRA Visit GrowingBolderMagazine.com to listen to our entire Growing Bolder Radio conversations with Jimmy Osmond and Larry Weissman. Plus, you can get more advice from Betsy Hughes in our Team Growing Bolder Track Shack Training Tips. 6 GROWING BOLDER
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2016
FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH Connie Curry had always dreamed of being a figure skater. At 60, she learned to skate. At 77, she participates in national and international competitions.
NO REGRETS
Finally Making Her Ice-Skating Daydream Come True. BY BILL SHAFER
A
s she looked into the dimming eyes of her 95-year-old father, Connie Curry struggled to accept the inevitable. There was still so much to cherish, so much she wanted to know. She asked him if he had any regrets. He looked into her eyes and asked, “Do you?” It was a question she couldn’t stop thinking about. Regrets? For most of her life she’d had a recurring daydream in which she was adorned
GROWINGBOLDERMAGAZINE.COM
in a bright, sparkly, form-fitting dress. She’d leap high into the cool, crisp air. After a gentle landing, she’d begin to twirl — slowly at first, then so quickly that she’d appear to be a blur. Finally, when she’d stop spinning, she’d strike a dramatic pose, peering up her outstretched arm to the rafters. Curry’s dream was to be a figure skater. “You know there are things you’ve always wanted to do,” her father said. “So, what’s stopping you?”
The answer, of course, was that 60-yearolds don’t usually learn to ice skate. But she couldn’t shake the certainty in her father’s voice. The next day, Curry drove to the rink. For the first time in her life, she laced up a pair of skates and glided into an entirely new chapter of her life. But this was reality. Curry was an excellent skater in her daydreams. In real life, however, she was terrible — at first. But that didn’t discourage her in the least. “I never did judge myself,” she says. “Maybe I should have, but every little thing I learned made me so excited that I could actually do something new. You just have to trust yourself, and know you’re going to be OK. You don’t have to succeed — you just have to get out there and try.” Seventeen years later, at the age of 77, Curry participates in national and international competitions. “I feel so joyful when I skate,” she says. “Even when I fall — which I do — I just get back up and keep doing it.” Learning to skate wasn’t the first time Curry set out to do something she wasn’t sure was possible. She didn’t learn to read and write until she was in college. “I was born with albinism, which is a condition characterized by lack of pigment,” she says. “One symptom is poor vision, so whenever I went to a lecture, I either had to get it the first time or not get it at all. So, using my memory and ability to focus, I ended up getting a master’s degree from St. Louis University.” Curry’s life is opening up like a giant blossom — yet there’s still much more she hopes to do. “I want to keep growing, and I want to pay attention to other people,” she says. “I love encouraging people. I love being a positive, motivating part of people’s lives.” Her parents, she says, always encouraged her “to get out there and experience things. They pushed me, encouraged me and made me look at my fears as something that could be overcome.” And just as they inspired her, now it’s Curry who’s inspiring others to follow their dreams. No regrets.
GB EXTRA Visit GrowingBolderMagazine. com to listen to our conversation with Connie Curry and learn more about her passion for skating and living a life of no regrets.
GROWING BOLDER 7
Chita:
Nowadays BY JACKIE CARLIN
Musical Theater Legend Chita Rivera Says This Very Moment is the Best Time of Her Life.
At 84, the unstoppable Rivera is still performing and still "living in the moment." Her recent Carnegie Hall show was called, appropriately, Nowadays. 12 G R O W I N G B O L D E R
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2016
Photo by Laura Marie Duncan