SASS ROLL CALL

Meet a few of the members who have opted to join the 2025 Spiritual Aging Study and Support Group

Greetings my hearty band of old souls! I value each and every one of you, both free and paid subscribers, who comprise the vibrant Spiritual Aging community. We launched January 1 with a vanguard of 100 core members who have committed to make 2025 a year of immersive reflection, companionship and spiritual growth. Meet a few of us below!

SASS on Substack is working with study guides published here weekly that go along with my new book Spiritual Aging: Weekly Reflections on Embracing Life. There are no meetings or obligations. Just check your inbox every Sunday for your study guide, spiritual exercises and members-only online conversations available at your convenience where we can share our challenges, strength and wisdom in the comments section.

We are also part of a global movement that is changing aging from the grassroots up. Additional offerings range from the monthly webinar I’ll be leading on Zoom along with facilitator-led small SASS groups via our partner organizations to starting your own SASS with a few friends to meet up at your local coffee shop, living room or community center. Click HERE to find additional ways to participate and learn how they can complement one another.

ROLL CALL: OUR FIRST ROUND OF INTRODUCTIONS

Meet a few of the spiritual warriors who answered the call to pledge and are looking forward to reflecting, supporting and growing older together. Our core group ranges in age from 50’s through 80’s and hail from all over the USA, Canada, Poland, UK and Croatia, among others. We are active and retired, educators, doggy daycare nannies, psychologists and at least one nun.

CAROL ORSBORN

As both a participant and one of a team of SASS comment moderators, I’ll go first. You know me from my work in the field of spiritual aging. You should know I write about what I’ve personally experienced as well as aspire to. I’m on the verge of turning 77 and once again in transition. This time I am sorting through the paradoxes of feeling the urge to contribute versus taking more time for self-nurturing and reflection. Plus my husband and I are venturing onto the tricky terrain of moving a thousand miles away where we will be balancing our independence with renegotiating our relationship with our grown family. Of course, there are also physical challenges and all the unwanted losses associated with aging. At the same time, count me among those who are waking up to an exciting, new possibility: I don’t have to do aging alone.

JOHN C. SCHERER

Anything I can do to support Carol Orsborn’s work with us ‘aging’ men and women, I am in full support of! But a very personal reason I pledged is that, in spite of my energy and overall fitness for Life, I am finding myself experiencing more and more signs of aging and want/need to come to terms with that reality, embracing the many attributes that come with having made it to age 84. Eager to be a part of your/our aging ‘community of practice’.

About me: In 1982 I founded Scherer Leadership Center (SLC) to assist leaders to transform their lives and their organisations. SLC has consultants in 12 countries providing state-of-the-art transformation and leadership projects including workshops, coaching, conflict resolution, usually embedded in large-scale change initiatives. Personally, I have four amazing grown children and, when not on an airplane or a train, live in Seattle and, since March, 2017, Warsaw, Poland, where I run or swim and do yoga daily, still play the guitar, and perform the occasional magic show. For more, see the Scherer Leadership Website.

JANN FREED

I pledged because I want to support Carol’s work. It is timely, accurate, relevant, and I love how she will use a little humor which is important as we grow in life experience. I want to learn as much as possible about Spiritual Aging and as soon as possible! 69 and embracing it!

From my website: Dr. Jann is an author, speaker, and thought leader devoted to taking leaders to the next level. Her latest book, Breadcrumb Legacy™: How Great Leaders Live A Life Worth Remembering (Routledge, 2023), is a blueprint for anyone at any age and stage of life who wants to live a meaningful life. Her extensive work on leadership includes TEDx Talks, books, a column in Training Magazine, and her monthly podcast series, Becoming a Sage. Dr. Jann is also a contributor to Forbes.com where she writes about the non-financial aspects of retirement. Click here to read her column here. For more, visit .JannFreed.com

DIANA HOLLANDER

My name is Diana, having just celebrated my 80th birthday, with our children & grandchildren. I began a Women’s Stories group in the place I now live in Laguna Beach Ca. I frequently read a passage from your column which begins a good discussion, thank you! I worked as an Interior Designer & art consultant for 45 yrs & loved it. During the working years I attended the Philadelphia School Psychoanalysis. My interests include spiritual teachings, Buddhist thought particularly. Now we live in a retirement community where life has become easier. Meeting new people is a joy, trying classes and enjoying our dog Luca. The challenge of eldering looms. It’s a bittersweet time. My husband has cancer & is dying. We all want to be with him to celebrate & enjoy his company. My hope is that I’m up to the challenges ahead. This group holds promise as we gather together to learn from each other, with your attention & wisdom. I’m looking forward to January & the opportunity it presents. Thank you, thank you,

STEVEN KATZ

I was appointed by the mayor of Lexington, KY to serve on the city’s Senior Services Commission and am a member of that commission’s associated housing-related committee, Reimagining Home, which is primarily concerned with the gamut of aging-in-place options. Currently we are focused on developing the Villages movement in our community and have helped a local non-profit gain some city funding towards that end. A Caring Place is a non-sectarian faith-based organization whose mission is to combat social isolation. I am on their task force to build a “hub and spoke” model that would serve older adults across Lexington. https://www.agefriendlylexington.com/housing

RUTH MCQUIRTER

I have benefited so much from Carol’s writing, her honest and penetrating insights, and the community she has fostered who care about making this phase of their lives meaningful. So often a phrase from one of Carol’s blog posts or a shared comment from a member of the online support group have popped into my mind as I navigate the joys and challenges of being in my seventies.

My life changed after encountering J. Alfred Prufrock in my twelfth grade English class. Eliot’s character laments as he looks back on his life, “I have measured out my life with coffee spoons.” I determined in that moment that I would devote my days to asking the deeper questions. This drive permeated my career as an educator, parent, friend, and social justice advocate. I am so grateful at age 75 to have found through Carol’s writing and online groups a community of older people who continue to ask the “overwhelming questions.”

-- Professor at Brock University in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada

MEET MORE MEMBERS

Roll call continues in January, when members of our SASS on Substack gather together online to engage in study, reflection and mutual support. Standing by with introductions are HARRY R. MOODY, MARY ROSE MARRIN, BOB WEBER, KATE McCLURG and many more.

Note to our members: Please feel free to introduce yourself to us either in the comment section below or email me at Corsborn@aol.com and I will run them as our roll call continues.