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By Chelsea Retherford | Living 50 Plus Inside the Guillot University Center on campus at the University of North Alabama, Gloria Broadway — known affectionately as “Gigi” to those who know and love her — has developed a reputation as a dependable co-worker and steady friend among her colleagues and the students she interacts with each day. “Gigi has a
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By Chelsea Retherford | Living 50 Plus LaSondra Stanford, 54, has spent more than half her life behind a salon chair, but she says her career in cosmetology has always been about so much more than styling hair. It’s about learning, teaching and building friendships. As her salon — Hair Divine on West Mobile Street in Florence — turned 20, Stanford
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By Chelsea Retherford | Living 50 Plus Most in Florence know Billy Ray Warren as the founder of the annual Alabama Renaissance Faire, now in its 39th year. Few, however, know all the work he puts in behind the scenes for other major projects as city historian. For Warren, history has never been just about dates on a page. It’s
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Avid readers may feel there’s nothing better than diving into a good book, but that book might be even more beneficial than they realize, particularly for older book lovers. A 2016 study published in the journal Social Science & Medicine noted that reading books can promote empathy, social perception and emotional intelligence, notable benefits that researchers found contributed to a
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By Metrocreative Gifts from friends and loved ones can make people feel cherished and valued. When these people are the older adults in one’s life, such as parents or grandparents, gifts take on additional meaning because they can warm the hearts of very special people. Finding unique gifts for older adults can be challenging because these individuals have been receiving
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By Chelsea Retherford | Living 50 Plus When Donna Steele urged her husband, Kurt Vetters, to unplug from the stressors of his career and take a retreat with her to North Carolina, she didn’t know he’d return, paintbrush in hand, with a passion that would reshape his plans for retirement. What she did know — from her own artistic journey
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By Chelsea Retherford | Living 50 Plus Pam Belew admits that she didn’t always consider herself a “club person,” but after nearly 15 years of service with one of the oldest chapters of Pilot Club International, she said she wishes she had joined the club sooner. Mary June Jankowiak joined the organization back in her hometown in Florida about 20
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