Volunteers help make homes accessible
On one of the hottest days of 2021, Chesterfield resident Susan Stephenson, who uses a wheelchair, was buoyed by the sight of 24 volunteers in her front yard. Despite the weather, which she said was “hotter than blue blazes,” a crew from the nonprofit RampsRVA arrived with tools, dismantled her broken wheelchair ramp and installed a new one. One volunteer even mowed her... READ MORE
Teaching kids to read critically
Journalist Alan Miller won a Pulitzer Prize for reporting, but he’s equally proud of a second award for his second career. Last month, Miller, 67, won a 2022 AARP Purpose Prize, which celebrates people 50 and older who use their life experience to solve social problems. The prize recognizes his work on the News Literacy Project, which he founded in 2008. The project aims to teach... READ MORE
Wanted: Nature lovers of any age
Barbara Schmeckpeper spent her career as a molecular biologist parsing the minutia of genes at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. But when she retired 20 years ago and looked up from her microscope, she found a wider world beckoning. First, she volunteered to pull weeds at a local park, which led her to volunteer with organizations that work on environmental education and... READ MORE
Sweet! Domino Sugar turns 100
Baltimore native Cathy Bowers owes her life to Domino Sugar. Her parents, the late Albert and Cassie Bowers, met at the Baltimore refinery in the 1950s. Albert started in the mailroom and rose to the head of the billing department, and Cassie worked as a keypunch operator. The company’s bowling league brought them together, and they started dating. “They had to keep it a... READ MORE
Ex-FBI agent drives special needs children
Mike Mason is used to big jobs with plenty of responsibility. After all, he was the number-four man at the FBI, and later a senior vice president with Verizon, handling its security issues on a global level. But his post-retirement gig is perhaps the most significant of all: driving a school bus for Chesterfield County Schools. It’s work he loves and considers as important as his past... READ MORE
Welcoming today’s refugees
In the last four years, Hannah Koilpillai, 65, has rounded up used furniture, beds, dishes and more to set up apartments for more than 500 people from other countries who resettle in the Washington area. She even convinced Colgate-Palmolive Company to donate 400 toothbrushes to the Maryland-based nonprofit where she volunteers, Homes Not Borders. Koilpillai, a Silver Spring resident, is... READ MORE
What’s next for Diane Rehm?
With a voice as familiar as that of a friend, longtime radio talk show host Diane Rehm, 85, will be the keynote speaker at this year’s Virtual 50+Expo. Her remarks, in the form of a video conversation with Beacon publisher Stuart Rosenthal, will be accessible with the rest of the Expo’s features through January 2022 at beacon50expo.com. As Rehm’s colleague Kojo Nnamdi (himself a ... READ MORE
From local band to Hollywood star
For actor, producer and Ellicott City native Johnny Alonso, the road to Hollywood didn’t start in the traditional way. The son of two doctors, Alonso first took to the stage as a teenager with a band he formed with his brother, James, and two neighbors. As lead guitarist and singer for the band, Alonso discovered his love for performing. “That’s really where my acting career... READ MORE
Designing jewelry for 70 years
When artist Betty Cooke was a young girl growing up in Baltimore, she visited the Walters Art Gallery with her father. The museum’s gleaming medieval armor collection fascinated her at age 10. “I loved the details of the different colored metals coming together. They had such beautiful forms,” said Cooke, now 97, in an interview with the Beacon. Cooke went on to create jewelry... READ MORE
VCU historian focuses on segregation
In 1963, Dr. Betty Brown Bibbins was the first African American student to attend her local junior high school in Portsmouth, Virginia. On her first day of school, Bibbins and her parents were met by an angry crowd, a scene that persisted throughout the school year. The police escorted Betty to her classroom, and when she entered, her entire class moved to the other side of the... READ MORE
