A Series for Women 60 and Beyond

Yuma aims to serve as a lifelong resource for women of all ages. The Series for Women 60 & Beyond, launched in January 2019, focuses on the personal, professional, and spiritual growth of women at every age.

Yuma Center is grateful to a benefactor for supporting this program. The donor was introduced to Yuma by Liliana Alessandri, a friend of Yuma Center. They both attended many of our programs offered online during the pandemic and afterwards. We are grateful for their friendship and support!

The Silver Linings Blog

Our goal as we mature in years is to grow younger on the inside and writer Mary Elizabeth Naegele is here to help us do just that. You’re going to love Mary’s fresh and thoughtful approach to turning the ordinary circumstances and events of your daily life into moments of serving God and others with simplicity and joy. Come grow younger on the inside with us in your personal, professional, and spiritual life.

- Series Coordinator Brenda Royden

visit the blog!

"Art Across Borders: A Journey of Creativity and Healing with Terry Svat"

Ladies, join us on Friday, May 17 from 11:00 am to 1 pm to meet Terry Svat, a remarkable artist whose journey through the global art world has shaped her unique perspective and approach to creativity. Spanning continents and cultures, Terry's studies at home and experiences abroad can be seen in her prints and artwork. She produced, exhibited, and sold her work in most countries where she lived. Terry's multifaceted journey also inspired her commitment to using art therapy as a powerful tool for healing and connection and sacred art design as inspiration during church liturgical celebrations.

We are delighted to welcome Terry to Yuma Center!

Please Note: Lunch will be served. Cost - $25. Register now to reserve your spot at the table!

REGISTER HERE!

MEET THE SPEAKER

Terry Svat was born in Cleveland, Ohio. At an early age, her parents noted her interest in art and encouraged her to enroll in art classes at The Cleveland Museum of Art, which just happened to be close by. The classes took place in various rooms throughout the museum and Terry was hooked on art from then on. In college at Kent State University while studying fine art, Terry took a course in printmaking and fell in love with the medium. Although she painted for some years, printmaking was always her fallback.

In later life, as she was gathering and cataloging her art she realized what a profound effect those classes at The Cleveland Museum of Art had on her work.

When her own family began living and working abroad, Terry studied, taught, and worked in many art-related fields in the former Soviet Union, Chile, Argentina, Panama, and Germany. For twelve years abroad, she was exposed to the cultural currents in Russia, Latin America, and Europe.

Upon returning to the U.S. in the 90s, she received an MA in Art Therapy from George Washington University. She worked as an art therapist and taught in the program at GWU. In addition, through most of these years, she worked at the Graphics Workshop in Silver Spring MD and she is the co-founder of the original Washington Printmakers Gallery now in Georgetown.

Over the past 30 some years, Terry’s art has been influenced by the various ways in which people and societies not only leave their mark on their civilizations but also provide a legacy of images, symbols, and monuments that can speak to other societies and other times. Because she had the opportunity to live and travel abroad, Terry was able to study some of the symbols and images of those places. She explored “huacas" from the pre-Columbian period, symbols and images of Stonehenge and Machu Picchu, the significance of the Berlin Wall and its demise, apartheid, and our own Vietnam Wall.

Feathers and Frames: A Journey into Birding through the Lens

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 20

Dr. Anne Bielamowicz inspired us with her talk on her dual passions: photography and birding. As a recent member of the “60 & Beyond Club”, Anne has found joy in capturing photographs of birds in their natural habitat while traveling around the globe.

Meet the Speaker: Anne Bielamowicz

Anne Bielamowicz was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. She completed Medical School and residency in Anesthesiology at UCLA before moving to McLean with her husband, Steve. They have been married for 33 years and have two sons, both born and raised in McLean. She spent over 20 years working at OrthoVirginia where she was the Director of Anesthesia. Her lifelong loves include nature, hiking, photography, reading, and travel. Most recently, she has become an avid birder, traveling extensively with her husband in pursuit of birds and exposure to new cultures. It has been her joy over the last few years to coalesce her love of birding with her love of photography and travel. In the past few years, she has been privileged to photograph nearly 2,000 different species of birds in a wide variety of countries and habitats, including many in her own backyard.

Memory Awakens Hope

OnTuesday, January 23rd several joined Amy Spence as she shared with us a New Year's reflection on maintaining a hopeful outlook in the situations we encounter. Amy provided helpful and heartfelt tips on responding with love so that discouragement and worry do not rule over us. We were encouraged to maintain old friendships and make new ones!

Amy Spence

Amy Spence was born in Boston, Massachusetts and is a graduate of Dartmouth College. She has been married to her husband Tom Spence for over 35 years. They have ten children and eight grandchildren. Amy worked in the archives at the JFK Library after college but her professional work has centered on the home since the birth of her first child. Amy also served for six years on the Board of Directors of Oakcrest School in Northern Virginia. Amy shares that caring for family and giving formation to women across the nation have been the two great privileges of her life.

Tried & True with a Dash of Integrative Care: Enhancing Well-Being in the 60’s and Beyond

With Cynthia Leaver

November 2023

Book Resources:

The Book of Lymph by Lisa Levitt Gainsley CLT
Healthy Aging by Andrew Weil, MD
Reclaiming Conversation by Sherry Turkle
Sanctuary by Terry Hershey
Life is Your Best Medicine by Tieraona Lowdog, MD
Mosby’s Handbook of Herbs &Natural Supplements by Linda Skidmore- Roth
Well at Work by Esther M. Sternberg, MD

View Past Events and our Video Archive:

Why Michelangelo Matters

with Mary Ellen Bork

June 2023

Guest speaker Mary Ellen Bork explored some of Michelangelo’s greatest works as a sculptor, painter and architect and how they demonstrate so magnificently the extraordinary power of beauty to draw us to God.

Further Reading:

Ross King, Michelangelo and the Pope’s Ceiling
William Wallace, Michelangelo: the Artist, the Man, and his Times
Irving Stone, The Agony and the Ecstasy

Mary Ellen Bork

**Mary Ellen Bork** is a free-lance writer and lecturer on issues affecting Catholic life and culture. She serves on the Board of the Ethics and Public Policy Center and the James Wilson Institute. She is on the advisory board of Christendom College and the Catholic Women’s Forum. Over the years she has been an advocate for the pro-life movement, promoted Catholic culture through groups like the John Carroll Society, the Susan B. Anthony List, and Catholic Campaign for America. She has also been involved in ecumenical outreach as a long-time Board member of the Institute on Religion and Democracy. She is past president of the Downtown Washington Serra Club. Her husband Judge Robert H. Bork died in 2012. For the past ten years she has been researching religious and cultural issues of the English Reformation and Counter-Reformation. She has given talks on St. John Fisher, Thomas More and Luther, Queen Mary Tudor, the Council of Trent, St. Catherine of Siena, and Mary of Rome, Michelangelo, and the English martyrs.

Living in a New Landscape: Grief Over the Death or Illness of a Loved One

WITH GUEST SPEAKER BARBARA CURRANO

March 2023

If you would like to register to receive the recording of this important talk, please email us at events@yumadc.org!

Life experience teaches us that many things can interfere with our flourishing here on earth as we make our way to heaven. In her role as a therapist, Barbara Currano helps people to live the abundant life that God intended for us to experience even while suffering through an extremely difficult time such as grief over the death or illness of a loved one.

Barbara will help us to find peace and strength in faith, and share encouraging advice on how to live and work through loss and the emotional difficulties that impact us while suffering.

Barbara Currano

Barbara Currano has a Master Degree in counseling and is a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor who enjoys integrating faith with counseling. She works with couples, families, parents, and individuals of all ages. She specializes in Emotionally Focused Therapy for Couples and Family and also uses Relationship Enhancement Therapy to improve relationships in the family, especially between couples and between parents and teens. She is experienced in using Filial Family Therapy with parents and young children. Her practice, Peaceful Waters Counseling, is located in Clarksville, Maryland.

Barbara has been married for 50 years and raised a large family. Marriage and family relationships are very important to her. She has been a devout Catholic all her life, and her faith is integral to everything she does.

Finding Purpose in a Long Life

with Mary Hamm

January 2023

Combining her 46 years of marriage experience raising twelve children, with her training in family development with the Institute for Family Development, and her work counseling women in crisis pregnancies, Mary Hamm will share the wisdom she has gained in this time and the challenges facing her now as she approaches her seventies.

Mary’s life experience and her research into what experts in the field have to say about the later years in life will provide us all with new insights into how to “Find Peace and Purpose in a Long Life.”

Resources from the talk:

And More Past Events:

Be a Bookworm!

November 2022

Yuma Center’s Metzger Hall

In honor of Helena Metzger

Theresa Fagan, author of A Mother’s List of Books, writer Mary Naegele, and Brenda Royden, owner of audiobook production company AudioTorches, LLC share a lively conversation on all things books!

Mary Naegele spoke about good spiritual books to read in your lifetime and why spiritual reading is so important to your interior life. Theresa Fagan discussed great books for adults as well as recommendations for all ages. Brenda Royden showed how to download and "read" those books the panel has recommended... including ways to access audiobooks that are totally free of charge!

Resources from the talk:

Meet the Speakers

Mary Naegele

Mary Naegele has a background in journalism and continues to dabble in writing and editing. She lives in Alexandria with her husband, where they raised eight bookworms.

Theresa Fagan

An experienced educator, mother and grandmother, Theresa Fagan and her husband, Patrick, work with parents in the area of character education. This work has greatly deepened her insights into children’s literature. She is the author of *A Mother’s List of Books*, a guide to wholesome family reading.

Brenda Royden

Brenda Royden started an audiobook production company, AudioTorches LLC, in 2019 to assist busy bookworms like herself to access good spiritual reading while commuting or traveling. Brenda’s other passions are traveling the world with her husband, getting together with their six children and families, coordinating Yuma's 60s & Beyond Program and serving on Yuma’s Board to help other women grow spiritually, personally, and professionally.

From Intensive Care to Intensive Living

WITH VERNELL (“VEE”) HOWELL

June 2022

Are you or someone you love facing medical challenges? You won’t want to miss this inspiring presentation by Vernell Howell, who joined us to discuss living your life with focus, no matter what your circumstances, with confidence in God’s love for you and your well-being.

After an out-of-the-blue cancer diagnosis, Vernell Howell spent years undergoing various cancer treatments and in 2015 was the recipient of a breakthrough bone-marrow transplant treatment to cure T-cell lymphoma. Her insights on that miraculous journey with the close support of her loving husband Tom and her two children and grandchildren will help you to concern yourself NOW with what really matters: faith, family, and friends.

Vee Howell

Vernell (“Vee”) Howell wrote the book “My Miraculous Journey: From Intensive Care to Intensive Living” detailing her incredible story. After college, Vernell married the love of her life, U.S. Air Force Officer Tom Howell and has been married for 57 years. They served our country in Germany and at assignments around the U.S. before settling in the DC area after his retirement from the service. Vernell studied at Hampton University and has an M.S. from Howard University. She taught science in DC public schools until her diagnosis in 2008. She is the mother of two children and grandmother of three. Vernell is a faithful and long-time member of the Alfred Street Baptist Church in Alexandria.

Marriage: The Greatest Adventure of Your Life!

with Vickie Teetor Reig

January 2022

Our life’s mission is to learn how to love - and it’s a lifelong project! Let this New Year seminar spark joy as you consider new perspectives on marriage at this new stage of your life together.

meet the speaker

Vickie Teetor Reig

Vicki Teetor Reig is a wife of 38 years, a mother of 9 children, and grandmother to 13. Vickie works with Fairfax County Public Schools and separately as a Family Enrichment Facilitator. Her hobbies include walking, cooking and reading. Vickie is a strong proponent of Yuma Center and loves its mission and programs!

Notes to Self on Growing Older

with Kate Hadley

November 2022

Our speaker, Kate Hadley, developed the ideas in this talk a few years ago. It started as a list of observations about growing older - how she felt about it and what she observed in older relatives. It is a compilation of her own thoughts and those of many friends. Watch this wise and funny talk on the art of aging below!

Additional Resources:

Meet the speaker

Kate Hadley

Kate Hadley has been aging for 67 years! She has lived in the Baltimore/DC area for most of that time, raising her 10 children, and working at Oakcrest School for 13 of those years as the Director of Mentoring. Now retired, she is busier than ever visiting her 13 grandchildren (9 of whom live in far-flung areas of the country), continuing to volunteer at Oakcrest, helping to run Family Enrichment courses, and crocheting.

Passing on the Faith to Little Ones

With Trish Loria

September 2022

Passing on the faith is important for parents, of course but also for grandparents, godparents or any adult who has children in their lives. Our experienced guest speaker Trish Loria will open up a treasure chest of resources to help us pass on the jewels of faith to little ones in our reach. Don’t miss this practical conversation on a topic that’s not talked about much today but whose importance is critical to families now and in the future.

Additional Resources:

Meet The Speaker

Trish Loria

Trish Loria is a wife and mother of ten. She is an educator with 15 years of experience in early childhood education. She is a graduate of The Catholic University of America with a degree in elementary education. Trish volunteers as a Chapter Coordinator for Leaders Now International. She received the 2021 Lauri Henry Award for outstanding dedication and service to Leaders Now. She and her husband Jack have been married for 38 years and have ten grandchildren. Trish enjoys exercise, the outdoors and spending time with her family and friends.

Blueprint for an Enduring Style

with Mary Anne Wahle

Mary Anne Wahle

Mary Anne has been in the fashion and styling industry for 20 years, changing the lives of women one outfit at a time! She gives great emphasis to personal style, authenticity, flattering fit, suitability to your life style and dressing in a way that captures your inner and outer beauty. She finds it a joy and a privilege to help women look and feel their best, and, age is no barrier to style! Mary Anne has worked with girls, teens and women from ages 9 to 89!
Mary Anne has trained at FIT, (Fashion Institute of Technology), EIS (Elegance In Style) and Image Innovators, of which she is a professional member and consultant.

Talk on the Temperaments

with Ceci Royals

Is your temperament sanguine, choleric, phlegmatic or melancholic? Understand the reasons why you and others act in certain ways and situations. Fun and informative session in which you’ll discover more about yourself, your loved ones, and your friends.

photo (1) (1).JPG — Ceci Royals

Cecilia (Ceci) Royals was the founding president of The National Institute of Womanhood (NIW) which participated as a non-governmental organization in several UN international conferences and summit meetings. She was a guest speaker at many conferences worldwide. Ceci also founded the “87 Coffee Initiatives” in Maryland and the non-profit “Families Excel”, both of which are concerned with safeguarding marriage.
COVID-19 precautions have caused her to put on hold her work leading mother’s groups on topics that impact motherhood and family life.
Ceci has been married to Tom Royals going on 43 years and they have eight children and 21 grandchildren.

A New Year with No Small Goals

with Barbara Falk

Feeling uncertain, confused, or possibly at a standstill right now? Are you wondering, “What does tomorrow hold for me?” Join us for this inspiring talk to help us consider the importance of moving forward in our personal and spiritual goals after a bruising year of living through the global pandemic.

Barb FAlk.jpg — Barbara Falk

Barbara Falk is an educator and lecturer specializing in empowering parents to raise children of character in today’s world. A nationally known speaker, Ms. Falk encourages parents to take an active leadership role in the home, teaching their children the importance of virtuous living within the natural setting of the family.
Ms. Falk has extensive administrative experience running private girls schools with the mission of preparing students to become women of character and conviction; women committed to spreading Christian ideals through their professional and family lives. Most recently, from 1990 – 2001 she was Head of Oakcrest School in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area.
Ms. Falk speaks to parents on a wide array of challenges impacting families today. Her advice and solutions are practical, humorous and grounded in common sense. Many of her anecdotes come from her teaching experience and life growing up in a large family of extroverts.
She began her career in education as a second grade teacher in her native city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Past 2020 Seminars:

Wise Women, Smart Money: Plan for Your Future

with Kim Herman

Watch the video below!

Did you know that almost half of Americans over 55 don't have a will and even fewer have an estate plan. Do you? Do you know what it says? Do you know why you need one? In this talk, Kim will go over some planning tips for your future and why it matters.

Meet THE SPEAKER:

Kimberly has been in the corporate financial and financial services industry for over 30 years. She began her career in the late 70s in mortgage banking, and then went to work with the Bank of Tokyo’s division of California First Bank in lending, countertrade, and management. While in Washington, Kimberly worked with the FSLIC as a Financial Analyst in Mergers and Acquisitions, she was later promoted to the Director of Marketing in Mergers and Acquisitions for the Resolution Trust Corporation (RTC) where she and her team were responsible for the sale of defunct savings and loans to investors during the first banking crisis in the 1980s. Kimberly then made a transition from corporate finance into personal finance and was recruited by Smith Barney, where her primary focus was working with families, corporate executives, and business owners until 2003. Kimberly recognized the need for objective, comprehensive advice and planning and started her own practice as an Independent Investment Advisor Representative (IAR) with LPL Financial where she has worked for the past 17 years.

Kimberly received a B.S. in Business Administration and holds Series 7, 24, 63, and 65 securities registrations with LPL Financial, as well as life, health, and annuity insurance licenses.

Outside the office, Kimberly has also found great success in many pursuits, including currently serving on the board of The Heights School in Potomac, MD and The Yuma Center. She has been the keynote speaker at various educational events with topics ranging from marriage and money to women and finance and living the life you want. Kimberly is currently working on a book on the impact finance has on marriages in the 21st century.

She and her husband, Scott, have four children, 3 grandchildren and live in Bethesda, Maryland.