About the Author of Helping Your Aging Parent

  I have a degree in journalism and spent over 35 years in the publishing industry, specializing in technical manuals and helping guides. As editor of an architectural magazine, my job included writing technical articles and news releases.

     I was introduced into the field of helping my aging parent when my once-independent 78-year-old mother began exhibiting signs of dementia. I had t learn “on the job” the sometimes-overwhelming complexities and emotional rollercoaster of dealing with every aspect of the process, from doctor visits, the understandable resistance of a person clinging to independence, the medical issues, finding appropriate housing – to the inevitable end. 

     I wrote the first edition of Helping Your Aging Parent soon after, in 2002. Now, with the clarity of hindsight and with a newfound levity only the passage of time will allow, in this revised edition I hopefully provide a lighter, warmer, more personal look, while retaining all the detailed facts, choices and guidance you'll find essential if you take this challenging but greatly rewarding journey.

     Now retired, I spend my time writing, but also making wine each year with grapes from my own micro-vineyard in San Diego, and tending a grove of rare fruit trees.