Barbara M. Fleisher, Ed. D., was a retired professor of education. She wore many hats in her life: public school teacher, learning disabilities/reading specialist, child advocate in the schools, college professor in San Francisco, Milwaukee, and Philadelphia, and author. She published many articles that have appeared in juried professional journals, and presented her research at national and international conferences on education. She had been project director of several university-community partnerships and service learning grants. Co-author of The New Senior Woman: Reinventing the Years Beyond Mid-Life (Rowman & Littlefield), she found work on The New Senior Man rewarding and inspiring. Thelma Reese, Ed. D., retired professor of English and of Education, created the Advisory Council for Hooked on Phonics and was its spokesperson in the '90'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 co-author of The New Senior Woman: Reinventing the Years Beyond Mid-Life (Rowman & Littlefield). She lives with her husband, Harvey Reese, author and artist. Together, Fleisher and Reese created the blog, ElderChicks.com which continues to publish the thoughts and opinions of older women and other interested readers. Their published essays may be found on ElderEssays.com. Thelma appears monthly on Rick Toquigny's blogcast, Life Lessons Radio- "America's Favorite Lessons Show" as he plumbs the ideas and opinions of the ElderChicks.
