Honor your wrinkles. You earned them.

Type of volunteer:

Patient-family advocate

Where is your hometown:

McKeesport, PA

In what place have you lived the longest?

Salisbury, MA

What is your favorite place that you’ve lived or visited?

Bluffton, SC

What convinced you to move to the Lowcountry?

Quality of life. The snowflakes chased me here!

What is your current occupation?

Executive Director of Memory Matters

What are three of your favorite hobbies?

Writing, gardening, and kayaking.

What is your most memorable moment in volunteering with HCL?

A thankful smile and sigh from a caregiver.

What have you learned in your experience volunteering with hospice?

I love the concept of dignity in death.

What inspired you to volunteer with HCL?

I respect the work done by HCL, and after retiring from Memory Matters, I missed working with elders.

What is your happiest or most rewarding volunteering story?

Seeing the caregiver put on lipstick, giving me a big smile, and saying how much she appreciated the opportunity to have lunch with friends.

What is your favorite part of volunteering with hospice?

The quiet time with the patient and the small talk with them.

How does HCL’s mission inspire you?

It’s so rewarding. I have long felt that kids and dogs are the causes that most people are drawn to. I have nothing against kids or dogs – in fact, I have both. But the terminally ill, those with dementia, and the gravely ill are hard to sell. HCL takes on this challenge!

What skills make you a better volunteer?

Empathy, compassion, and the acceptance of death as a part of life.

What do you wish people knew about HCL?

It’s not scary; and the rewards to one’s spirit are immeasurable.

How has being a hospice volunteer changed your outlook on life?

It hasn’t changed my outlook, it’s reinforced it.

What is your most irrational fear?

Falling on ice. It’s my kryptonite!

What age would you choose to be permanently? Why?

None. I love to be challenged and grow – can’t really do that if I’m stuck in time.

If you had a superpower, what would it be? Why?

My superpower would be the ability to magically produce a big love eraser as a weapon. I could simply erase fear, physical pain, emotional problems, grief, hate, etc., and replace them with love.

What is something you would never do again?

Live in a cold climate.

Would you rather live a week in the past or in the future?

In the past. I would love to go back in time to the late 1800s to see how my grandmother’s family lived in Lithuania. The future will come anyway.

What is something you wish you could’ve told yourself ten years ago?

Honor your wrinkles. You earned them.

What do you think you will want to tell yourself ten years from now?

Congratulations! You lived life on your own terms and were brave enough to take some risks.

What would you want your last words to be?

I’m not afraid to die. I’m curious about my new adventure.