Gray Panthers

A while ago I had the delightful experience of hearing Dr. Gene Cohen, gerontologist, psychologist, and author, speak about the developmental stages of later adult life, as he sees them. Rather than thinking of life after 50--until death--as a single phase as others have proposed, he views the years between one’s 40s and 80s+ as encompassing several stages: Midlife Re-Evaluation; Liberation; Summing-Up; and Encore.

His conclusion: not only can you teach an old dog new tricks, but sometimes the old dogs can learn the tricks better than the young dogs.

This being Women's History Month, I decided to do some digging and find women who accomplished great things after age 50.

As a former Girl Scout, I happily start out the post with Juliette Gordon Low, founder of the Girl Scouts of the USA. Born in 1860 to a wealthy Savannah, Georgia family, she lived a life of privilege, meeting her husband while on a trip to England. When he died after 19 years of marriage, the 46-year-old Low started traveling the world to find some direction in her life. She met Sir Robert Baden-Powell and his sister Agnes, founder of the Boy Scouts and Girl Guides, and became determined to bring a similar organization for girls to the U.S.  read more »