Ann Hedreen

Dec 7, 2024 | 3rdactmagazine.com | Ann Hedreen |David Nemetz

Right in the middle of longtime TV host and reporter Leeza Gibbons’ home page are these words: “Older is the new brave.” Also: “Be fiercely optimistic. That’s where hope lives.” We wanted to find out more about what has motivated this Emmy-winner to become an advocate for embracing life in our 3rd Act. What follows is a Q&A via email with Gibbons, who is also the founder of Leeza’s Care Connection, a support program for caregivers. “Older is the new brave.”  I love the sound of this sentence.

Aug 16, 2024 | 3rdactmagazine.com | Ann Hedreen |David Nemetz

When Mountlake Terrace Mayor Kyoko Matsumoto-Wright and I were children, the voters of our region rejected light rail. Twice. Federal funds earmarked for mass transit, as we called it then, were redirected to Atlanta. For the rest of our lives, the impact of those votes cast in the car-loving 1960s and 1970s has weighed ever more heavily on Seattle and its burgeoning suburbs. Matsumoto-Wright, who is 74, was born in Japan. Her father, who served 20 years in the Army, was born in Hawaii.

Aug 14, 2024 | 3rdactmagazine.com | Ann Hedreen |Victoria Starr Marshall

When marathon swimmer Diana Nyad was 64 years old, she stood up and walked on her own two feet onto Smathers Beach in Key West, Florida, after swimming 110.86 miles from Cuba in 52 hours and 54 minutes. She had first attempted the crossing from Cuba to Florida 35 years earlier, three years after astonishing New Yorkers and the world by swimming around Manhattan. Nyad sped through the 28-mile New York swim in a mere seven hours and 57 minutes. The Cuba swim became the goal of a lifetime.

Jun 11, 2024 | 3rdactmagazine.com | Ann Hedreen |Victoria Starr Marshall

From Judith Mayotte’s floor-to-ceiling, south-facing window on the 6th floor of the Skyline Retirement Community on Seattle’s First Hill, you can see the raised-bed gardens on the ground below. They are the work of a group of Skyline residents who call themselves the “Late Bloomers.” Mayotte enjoys looking down on the garden, quiet though it is on this February day. It’s one of the many things she appreciates about Skyline, where she has lived for six years. But Mayotte is no late bloomer.

Mar 4, 2024 | 3rdactmagazine.com | Ann Hedreen |Victoria Starr Marshall

BY ANN HEDREENTwo days before the winter solstice I drove from my home in Columbia City to Capitol Hill to meet Steve Durrant at the Tailwind Café, which is tucked inside the Good Weather Bicycle & Repair shop on Chophouse Row, a cozy alley of restaurants and shops just off Union Street in Seattle.