How Seniors Are Saving the World

Thelma Reese, EdD, retired professor of English and of Education, created the Advisory Council for Hooked on Phonics and was its spokesperson in the 1990's. In that role, and as director of the Mayor's Commission on Literacy for the City of Philadelphia, she appeared frequently on television and hosted a cable show in Philadelphia. She was a founder of Philadelphia Young Playwrights, chaired the Board of Children’s Literacy Initiative, and organized the World Symposium on Family Literacy at UNESCO in Paris in 1994. She is a member of the national organization Life Planning Network and of her local Positive Aging group. She is co-author, with Barbara Fleisher, of The New Senior Woman: Reinventing the Years Beyond Mid-Life and The New Senior Man: Exploring New Horizons, New Opportunities, both published by Rowman & Littlefield and has been an invited speaker at senior centers, senior living communities, and community centers about both books. She founded and maintains the ElderChicks blog. A mother and grandmother, she lives in Philadelphia with her husband, Harvey Reese, author and artist, and spends part of the year in San Mateo, California. BJ Kittredge, MEd, is a retired consultant to the health care industry. Her professional career began in the public-school classroom where she taught elementary, middle and high school. She was selected for the N. J. Department of Education Academy for the Advancement of Teaching and Management. She served as chair of a district-wide K-12 science curriculum development project and was a Geraldine R. Dodge fellow at Wesleyan University. She moved from the academic sphere into operations in a major Philadelphia accounting firm and then a small publishing company. From there she was the first Director of Training and Development in the member services division of US Healthcare. There she worked on the design and implementation of the department transition to self-directed teams. She authored and delivered original management training, Speakeasy communication skills programs, operations manuals for new IT systems and a system for performance evaluation. She is the widow of Patrick W. Kittredge, Esq., and is a proud mother and grandmother.