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Jan 30, 2024 | 
boomermagazine.com | Karen Czuleger Strgacich |Colin Kelly |Wesley Shennan |Annie Tobey
Most of us have items that we hold dear. They needn’t be expensive, just meaningful. For Boomer reader Karen Czuleger Strgacich, a little IKEA loveseat is her treasure. What’s yours? From my little IKEA loveseat, I write my articles. As I sit, I redecorate my house. I plan my backyard furniture and plants. I think about my family. I think about my work. I think about my life. This $350 loveseat will never be given away or sold online. And if it breaks, it will be repaired.
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Jan 23, 2024 | 
boomermagazine.com | Colin Kelly |Wesley Shennan |Karen Czuleger Strgacich |Annie Tobey
What if that chatty passenger on your nine-hour flight turns out to be someone famous? What if he turns out to be an ex-president of the United States? Colin M. Kelly shares his unexpected meeting of George H. W. Bush. I was boarding a nine-hour flight from Frankfurt to Houston. While I was placing my carry-on in a first-class overhead compartment, the gentleman in the seat to my right barked out, “Did you steal my complimentary slippers?” Surely, he’d seen that I had just arrived on the plane.
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Jan 16, 2024 | 
boomermagazine.com | Wesley Shennan |Karen Czuleger Strgacich |Annie Tobey
Canadian writer and community planner shares memories of his father, William Shennan, who served with the Canadian Army during World War II. In the photo above is my dad William Shennan on the left, with his buddy Alf Pellant on the right, sitting on their Norton 16H motorcycles. My dad was a dispatch rider for the Canadian Army during WW2, and the picture was taken probably in Belgium, 1944. He stormed Juno Beach, in Normandy, France, June 16, 1944, 10 days after D-Day.
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Dec 6, 2023 | 
boomermagazine.com | Colin Kelly |Sherrill Pool Elizondo |Nick Thomas |Wesley Shennan
Colin M. Kelly’s mother whispered, “Can you keep a secret?” She had a smile of pride and confidence, devoid of worry and stress. Kelly shares the story of that holiday night, of what her secret meant then – and later. It was in the late 70’s, I was still in college, in the middle of my sophomore year. At this point in my life I was struggling to balance study time with social time and the ever-pressing work time needed to pay for college.
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Jul 26, 2023 | 
boomermagazine.com | Karen Czuleger Strgacich |Margaret Hopkins |Bill Levine |Wesley Shennan
In comparing her attitude during the dark days of 2020 with her thoughts and actions of today, Karen Czuleger Strgacich wonders if she learned – and retained – any lessons from the pandemic. Did I learn anything during the pandemic? It felt like I was like the Tin Man living in Oz and I had just seen the wizard! I truly found my heart. How could I not? Seeing what I saw every day on the news. The loss of life, loss of jobs, and loss of security was staggering.
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Jul 24, 2023 | 
boomermagazine.com | Robert Koehler |Fred Grandinetti |Wesley Shennan |Annie Tobey
The first weekend of the dark historical drama, “Oppenheimer” pushed past box office expectations, with $82.4 in ticket sales. Columnist Robert C. Koehler looks at Oppenheimer’s message on war and its relevance for today. A mere 55 years after his death, the U.S. government has restored J. Robert Oppenheimer’s security clearance, which the Atomic Energy Commission had taken away from him in 1954, declaring him to be not simply a communist but, in all likelihood, a Soviet spy.
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Jul 18, 2023 | 
boomermagazine.com | Margaret Hopkins |Bill Levine |Wesley Shennan |Brian Marsh
The 81-year-old celebrity showed us that we can look great at any age – or was the message something entirely different? Baby boomer Margaret Hopkins offers a tongue-in-cheek look at the swimsuit-clad Martha Stewart and how her generation views aging and body image. I want to congratulate Martha Stewart on her Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition cover. After months of working out and dietary considerations, she looks great. I believe a woman should look as good as she can.
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Jul 11, 2023 | 
boomermagazine.com | Bill Levine |Wesley Shennan |Doreen Mary Frick |Phil Perkins
Bill Levine was 11 years old when Marilyn Monroe died. He heard the news of her death over a transistor radio at summer camp. “There must have been snippets of unsettling news items crackling over the transistor, about the megatons involved in nuclear testing from Russia and the U.S. I don’t remember hearing any of this nuclear brinkmanship stuff.
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Jul 5, 2023 | 
boomermagazine.com | Wesley Shennan |Doreen Mary Frick |Phil Perkins |Sherrill Pool Elizondo
Tragedies can impact families across generations. Wesley Shennan tells of the aunt he never got to meet and of the residential school system that took her from her family. (Originally published in Canada’s History Magazine, May, 2023, used with author’s permission.)This is a photograph of my grandparents, Solomon and Lottie Callihoo, and their children, Charlie, Christina, and Camilla. It was taken in the 1920s on the Michel Indian Reserve northwest of Edmonton.
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Mar 21, 2023 | 
boomermagazine.com | Josh Shaffer |Wesley Shennan |Annie Tobey
A reporter from Raleigh, North Carolina, catches up with a couple from Connecticut who are on a mission to play pickleball in all 50 states. RALEIGH, N.C. – The joy of whacking a green plastic orb first struck Richard and Mary Jo Panettieri in 2017, before the nationwide pickleball mania started spreading faster than spilled paint.
