00;00;11;17 - 00;00;41;04 Unknown I am Catherine and I am Gael. And welcome to women over 70 Aging Reimagined. Our award winning weekly podcast, Visit Women over 70.com and learn how you may become involved. Join aging, reimagine, circle and enjoy free participation in our online monthly programs. And we thank you for listening. And we'd also like to thank our sponsor, Wells Fargo, for their continuing support. 00;00;41;06 - 00;01;13;27 Unknown Today, we are delighted to be talking with the Career. She's 77. She lives in Longboat Key, Florida, and describes herself as an obsessively hard worker who never rests. She's been involved in the arts most of her life. She was a college arts major and later worked as a potter, specializing in porcelain. At age 27, Dee designed her own 5000 square foot home and then set up a rehab business in Chicago. 00;01;13;29 - 00;01;39;17 Unknown In her 50s, Dee and her second husband moved to Virginia to raise up champion alpacas on a 20 acre farm. And now living in Florida for the past seven years, Dee supports the arts the theater, orchestra, ballet. She's become Sarasota mom to the young dancers and the entire company. And she's a hostess, a mentor, and even helps young dancers get their green cards. 00;01;39;19 - 00;02;12;07 Unknown And she has just completed the presidency after homeowners association, where she has overseen rebuilding 60 condos that were destroyed in a recent hurricane. So, Dee, thank you. Welcome to women over 70. And I want to thank your daughter and my friend Bridget O'Shaughnessy, for referring you to us. So let's let's begin. I think, do you said that you wanted to start with talking about relationships in your life, and we'd like to hear about that. 00;02;12;07 - 00;02;42;04 Unknown And and why start here? Why start with relationships? I want to start with relationships. Because I think, the relationship I had with my parents as an only child started me down a path that, that has introduced me to many, many, many things. But also, I grew up being an adult at age 4 or 5. I was the hostess, the second hostess at all of my mother's dinner parties. 00;02;42;06 - 00;03;12;16 Unknown I knew all of her friends and and called them all by their first names. And many of them. I actually had relationships with outside of my parents. So I think that's, a very special aspect of only children. It it also has its downsides. But I don't I don't really want to speak about that. Particularly, but, I think it's how I learned to relate differently. 00;03;12;16 - 00;03;47;00 Unknown I had two children so that, you know, they, I was able to enjoy children, and it made me a child again. But also, being their mom, I was able to enjoy life from a completely different perspective. And, I, I think that's the whole time of my life has been a driver in my personality. My mother was an impressionist artist, and so I grew up with the surrounded by the arts. 00;03;47;02 - 00;04;18;17 Unknown She was beautiful painter and, totally different than the way I paint. Completely different than the way that the way I paint. But, as a matter of fact, I think that's part of why I paint differently to, you know, sort of have my own my own personality in my painting. But, I was the the second part of my life was that I married my high school sweetheart. 00;04;18;20 - 00;04;52;11 Unknown So he was around my parents a lot. He, was welcomed in our home from the time we were 16, and we ended up getting married at 21. And I think, that was we have two beautiful, beautiful children. And, I think because of our personality difference, that was another driver in my life. He was laid back and, a little bit shy. 00;04;52;13 - 00;05;25;13 Unknown And so I was forced into the position to be the outgoing, driver. Take care of everything, plan every trip, plan how the children were going to get from here to there. I think it it, it made my energy level extremely high. And it has continued that way even into my 70s. Later 70s. I have a very high energy level, and I don't know how to stop, and I don't know how to say no. 00;05;25;15 - 00;05;56;04 Unknown So, I think as I think it's so important to understand people's relationships as they develop through their life, because by the time you get to your 70s, your, your an accumulation of all the people you were all of your life. And what's fun about it is you can go back in your mind and be 16 again, or 18 or 22, or the day you gave birth to your daughter and the day you gave birth to your son. 00;05;56;11 - 00;06;18;24 Unknown It's all still in there. And you can draw on it and, and, draw it up whenever you want to and need to, even though I think now I'm sort of not remembering things, but that's a whole nother story. Oh, that I can make up stories and you can make up stories. That's exactly right. That's it. So you you married a second time. 00;06;18;27 - 00;06;58;29 Unknown Yes. And you're. And then tell us about that and that relationship. Well, my husband and I, my first husband and I had a, Because we've been married so long, it took us five years to get divorce. And, during that time, I, I did meet my second husband, and it's kind of a cute story because my little sister from high school, I went to a girl, an all girls school in Lake Forest, Illinois, and my little sister was two years younger than I was, and she. 00;06;59;06 - 00;07;31;07 Unknown She was divorced early in her, in her marriage. And so she started something called Ravinia singles. Now. Yeah. You any of you that are from Chicago certainly know Ravinia. And, so we would meet up there and, and she would have all kinds of different events, but she was actually looking for a partner, so she had an incentive to start Ravinia singles. 00;07;31;09 - 00;07;54;15 Unknown And I met my husband, I hosted a party for her, and I met my husband. I laughingly tell the story in my bedroom. He at brought a date. He was, you know, dating someone. And he took had a phone call and he needed some privacy. So I took him into my bedroom and said, here, you can have your your conversation in here. 00;07;54;22 - 00;08;24;28 Unknown But that was how we met. And, it turned out he was in a rather unhealthy relationship because he was, I always say about Bill, nobody didn't love Bill. He was so sweet and generous and kind and innocent in many ways. And I think people took advantage of that. So, I, it was part of what I fell in love with. 00;08;25;00 - 00;08;50;26 Unknown But it was, I think, a difficult journey for him. So we met and it took us a little while to figure out who we were and how we fit together. And, and then we were married for 18 years. And during that 18 years, we lived in Chicago originally where he had a business and, and it was an interesting business because he found hotel rooms for stranded airline passengers. 00;08;50;28 - 00;09;17;26 Unknown And it was he was he just wanted to do good in the world. And so we fit together because of that also. And that's one of my passions, is to, give back in, in this world for all of the good things that have come to me in my life. And, so, we decided that it was time for him to end that business and move on. 00;09;17;28 - 00;09;59;27 Unknown And he had worked with a gentleman, that had had raised alpacas. He also raised Cavalier King Charles Spaniels, which was what I did. I raised, cattle, champion Cavalier spaniels, King Charles spaniels, but he introduced us to alpacas and I had an interest in weaving of all things. And, so when we, when we went to Virginia to raise these animals, I started my weaving studies and my weaving career. 00;09;59;29 - 00;10;25;18 Unknown So I spent 15 years doing that. And during that 15 years that I had, I had five businesses related to the alpacas. So as you can see, I'm an overachiever over extender, sort of crazy. But, that's what makes life fun, I think sometimes Darren lovable. So what are the five businesses or some of those businesses? What were they? 00;10;25;20 - 00;11;04;19 Unknown Well, one of the things I did was I designed, a loom for hand weavers. And I designed it for people that owned alpacas so they could take their fiber. They could send it to me. I could process it out at my best friends. Mill. And, then they could take what we called ravines. So it hadn't been taken all the way to yarn yet, and they could weave and, this peg loom and, it was a design I had seen originally in England. 00;11;04;21 - 00;11;31;21 Unknown And then I improved on it and it became known as the American Peg loom. And one of the really fun things is after I was out of the business, and was no longer selling these, someone had copied my design and I saw them at an alpaca show after they said, oh my God, you're Dee Greer. You invented the American Peg loom. 00;11;31;23 - 00;11;57;15 Unknown So it was really kind of fun. That was one of the businesses. I also was a yarn designer, and because I had a my friend, had a mill, I would go over there and work in the mill and help her. And then I became a yarn designer. So I would add things to my alpaca yarn and like, sparkly things, sparkly parts to it. 00;11;57;17 - 00;12;29;02 Unknown Different fibers I could add, so I could mix it with, say, Tencel or some other kind of material and, and make really interesting engineering. So that was another business. Let me see. Oh, I, I, took all of my, my yarns that I created, and I had a business which was selling them, at, counts the, fiber shows. 00;12;29;04 - 00;12;51;18 Unknown And I would go around and I had my own tent and, you know, the whole business. So that was another way that I, I got my product out in the marketplace is my weaving. I never sell, but, the, the things that I created, the yarns and things, I did with this, sewing it. So that was a few of the, the same, 00;12;51;18 - 00;13;09;11 Unknown as a matter of fact, one of the weavings that I'm wearing. Wait, so now now is when I'm going to push back a little bit and I'm going to, I think, kind of scan that because this is really interesting weaving. 00;13;09;13 - 00;13;39;15 Unknown It is, it's I have it folded over because when you're a weaver, you work with weave structures and there are hundreds of weave structures, but this is the one I've decided that I really want to pursue. And, it's sort of my specialty now. So this is one of the works where you can see on this side, it shows the back side of it, and this side shows the front side. 00;13;39;15 - 00;14;06;29 Unknown So if you open it up, that's the front and that's the back. And completely different. I'll show you another one. That I have, I have several to show you. This again, same weave structure, very small little scarf. But again difference. And each side you can see on this one, the colors are completely different. 00;14;07;02 - 00;14;37;06 Unknown They're, they're interwoven. So you'll see this color like that on that side. But when you flip it over it becomes a completely different design. So that's a fun one. This one I particularly love because these are my colors, as you can see what I'm wearing again, okay. This one, is completely different. So this is the one side and this is the other side. 00;14;37;09 - 00;15;11;24 Unknown So when you fold it over like this and wear it this way, you show off both sides all at the same time. Yeah. You're not. So you're not selling any of these? No. And I'm asked all the time. Oh I have many, many, many, many more, but I just can't seem to part with I don't I don't know why because I have a friend that owns a little shop over right next door to, our condominium that sells, property, and she everyone who sees it just wants it. 00;15;11;24 - 00;15;44;25 Unknown And I'm like, no, I'm so sorry, but that is, I guess, some of the stuff I might sell someday. Bridget will sell it for me, and I'll put my name on the list. Please. Oh, I will, I will. And here's another just quick one that you can see this. It starts out with variegated yarn. Like it would changes all the way through the scarf, going from the oranges into the greens and the blues. 00;15;44;27 - 00;16;10;06 Unknown So you can do so much with weaving is so creative. I did I, I went, to a five year program up in Canada. That was the classes could be held down here and the teacher would come to us and I spent five years to get a master's degree in hand weaving. So this became, a passion. 00;16;10;08 - 00;16;41;22 Unknown I understand I did at this point now because I had a loom that I had, waited for for many years, and, it was computer generated so I could design on my computer, and then I would plug it into the loom and I could weave it off. I could some my own designs on the computer. So, it it's, it was, it was, destroyed in the flood. 00;16;41;24 - 00;17;13;22 Unknown So, yeah, just to kind of when I say the flood, when Helen came through, I had 18in of water in my condo, and it destroyed all my furniture, destroyed everything. So I'm rebuilding. That's what I'm doing now. So, then another thing that I enjoy doing, I haven't done it for a long time, but I loved, knitting with alpaca. 00;17;13;24 - 00;17;37;20 Unknown So this I pull it back so you can see it is one of the scarves that I knit with my own alpaca. I hand dyed it, and, it's very, very soft, very fine. Here's, lab, you know, that you're you're attempting us, right? You know that, right? Here's another one. Another alpaca sweater that I'm right. 00;17;37;23 - 00;18;02;12 Unknown And you can see it's really fun. So I if I don't go back to weaving, I don't know what I'm going to do. I just, you know, I don't know because I've done so many things. Here's, here's an owl, here's a lovely alpaca sweater that, I designed to knit. So this is kind of fun to if you would feel that. 00;18;02;15 - 00;18;35;02 Unknown And I wish you could come in here to the camera. Just. Oh, what this feels like it is so soft. And the alpacas that I raised, we, if you're familiar with cashmere. Okay. Cashmere, can come from a couple of different animals. However, what it has to do is be very, very, very fine. So as in the business, where they're breeding for, cashmere. 00;18;35;04 - 00;19;05;19 Unknown Likewise, when we're breeding for alpacas, we want it to be the same, thickness. We don't call it thickness. We call it micron as cashmere. So this is like wearing cashmere. But it's very, very, very good. So. And so, do you mentioned the the flood and the hurricane and you, I think, are back in your condo, but just barely. 00;19;05;21 - 00;19;24;10 Unknown Is that right? I'm not allowed to stay here overnight yet until I have the last, inspections, which I was hoping would be by the end of this week. So. But someone was supposed to show up today, and so far they haven't to look at stuff. So, I mean, I don't know, I'm trying to hold it together. Yeah. 00;19;24;10 - 00;19;49;20 Unknown So tell us about this is a tragedy. So, we how do I get to that? It's like it's not a one more thing. Two more things to show you. Okay, so, I, I was showing Gail this before. One of the things that I did it for ten years, was I did Japanese beadwork. So these are amulet bags. 00;19;49;23 - 00;20;20;02 Unknown We. And they are all done with tiny, tiny, teeny tiny little beads all strung on a thread, and you weave it along, and then you can add fringe on the bottom, decorate your, necklace part of it, whatever way you want. Here's another one that I did, which I, I love this one because again, it's my colors. 00;20;20;05 - 00;20;47;25 Unknown And this one was another one that I did. I want to I want to go to some fancy the place where I could wear that. I know, I know, it's fun to wear them. Here's another one that I did. And interestingly, my mother and I did this together as adults. We we went to class once a week and, there's many, many, many books to study on on this. 00;20;47;25 - 00;21;15;21 Unknown And then this is a this is the first one I ever did. I went to really what what that a sliding thing that the, the lid slides up and down, off the top of the I mean, like that. Why not? Interior. It's all these teeny tiny Japanese seed beads. These are all beads strung together. Zoned together. 00;21;15;24 - 00;21;46;15 Unknown And, I did this for ten years and. Interesting. They I did it on the trip to Charlottesville in the car, and I put the beads away when I got there and didn't take them out again. So my life tends to be very compartmentalized, in that the things that I love to do. And I'm going to show you one last thing, because I'm very proud of this part of my life, which I will continue doing down here in Florida. 00;21;46;18 - 00;22;10;05 Unknown But I'm a watercolor painting, so this is one of my pieces. It's I want to get that far up so you can see the whole thing nowadays. And that's one style that I paint in. But generally speaking, I'm very precise. And sometimes it takes me a year to finish a painting. This is another one I think you want to see. 00;22;10;08 - 00;22;15;14 Unknown Just gorgeous. Oh, do you sell those? No. Well, first, not 00;22;15;14 - 00;22;23;03 Unknown the six and a half months that you had to live outside of your home because of it being destroyed by the hurricane, so. 00;22;23;06 - 00;22;53;18 Unknown And tell it whatever you'd like to tell us about that experience. I think this is, I, I don't know if this is the hardest time of my life this particular six months. As as you mentioned, I was the president of our condo association when the flood happened, and so I had to, gather everything together. 00;22;53;18 - 00;23;29;05 Unknown I, as I said, I was the first woman president here, and the men just didn't like that. The other eight board members, you know, just were tough. And, but I was I'm, I'm I can be extremely strong if I always say I can be the nicest person around, but don't cross me. Because you won't like what you find. 00;23;29;08 - 00;23;58;27 Unknown So there were there were some very tough moments dealing with the gentleman, and there still are ongoing. Because I'm trying to get back in here, and there are now nine men on the board. Wow. And and they're challenging. They have interesting personality types. But, anyway, I guess I, I would that about, ten days before the end of my term. 00;23;59;00 - 00;24;22;11 Unknown We had, and I think you said this, we had 59 units out of 103 that were completely destroyed. And of those, only four of us on the first floor are permanent residents. So I am am the going to end up being the first one to get back in? But only because I've been here six days a week. 00;24;22;14 - 00;24;57;17 Unknown From right after the flood, mopping up the the category three water out of here and on my hands and knees with all the workers. So I. I throw myself in fully and I will work with anyone, but don't cross me. So, I, I have, I've had some major tragedies in my life. My first little boy only lived 11 days. 00;24;57;19 - 00;25;27;04 Unknown And, it that was a very, very difficult time in my life. It was my first child, and I would say that was a very the first very, very awful thing to happen in my life. And I was only 23, so and now at 77, this is a different kind of hardship. It's a different kind of challenge. 00;25;27;06 - 00;26;06;20 Unknown It's a different emotional feeling. I, I think that, I really was very close to an emotional breakdown by the time I left the office of president, because I just was beside myself. So I've been out of the condo for six, almost six and a half months now, and I've been here six days a week, every week, working with the people side by side with them, catching all the errors they make because in addition to everything else, I have an interior design background. 00;26;06;28 - 00;26;57;12 Unknown I was an interior designer. I had my own business, went to school for that in Chicago, at a school I believe it's still there called Harrington School of Design. And I really enjoyed that. And then I had my own business because of that. I, I don't even know what to say about that, except that that added to the fact that I designed that home and built it with a three and a half year old and a one year old, which I went to that home for a year and a half every single day because everything was, I had to pick out, from the every doorknob, every hinge, 00;26;57;14 - 00;27;26;05 Unknown everything, I was making these huge decisions. So I, but it was challenging yet wonderful. And again, I get this artistic flair from my mother. And I became her interior designer, so I helped her with her home. Kind of weird to go back and forth and, you know, mother daughter relationship, but just. We all know about that. 00;27;26;08 - 00;27;58;28 Unknown Well, let's say a little bit more. And now about how, the arts are, are they're still a major part of your life now, it sounds like. So tell us how you're engaged and how. Well, right now, I'm simply engaged in getting this place done and getting getting it done. The company that we're using for remediation and rebuilding actually does large products projects with commercial buildings. 00;27;59;00 - 00;28;33;06 Unknown They don't understand what people approve who have places here in Florida, demand, of their work. So it's been a struggle. And when I am done and in, I have said I would volunteer to help in any way I can because people don't understand when they're trying to pick out everything they want for their condo. With my background, I started seven days after the flood picking out everything. 00;28;33;06 - 00;29;04;08 Unknown All the appliances were destroyed. I had to pack up everything that I could that had not been touched by the water and put it in storage. And now that's all come back to me. Two days ago, and I have a lot of boxes to unpack, but, where was I going with that? That, Oh, so I, I can't really say where I am going next. 00;29;04;11 - 00;29;30;10 Unknown I, I will figure it out. It will come to me. I don't know if I will leave again. I do have another loom that I can weave on. But. And I've taught weaving, I taught adults, I taught children, I've mentor children. But I, I just don't know. You don't know yet. You said you were. 00;29;30;10 - 00;30;00;09 Unknown You will continue your watercolor painting. Yes. For sure, because I have friends here in the neighborhood, in this complex. And we meet once a week, and that's a social thing. So we go, we paint. And I really haven't had time to paint at home. I you asked how I managed. I have a partner now that I met through the ballet, and we do all the same things. 00;30;00;11 - 00;30;28;27 Unknown The ballet, the symphony, the theater. So it's been a really, really wonderful relationship. And he took me in. He took me in the day before the hurricane with my two dogs. And I'm still there, and it's like, I need I need my space back. I need my own things. I need my quiet. He loves music, so he wants to be listening to music all the time. 00;30;28;27 - 00;31;00;15 Unknown And I've been here all day and not a peep heard anywhere. And I like. So, He's. He's been the salvation that helped me through this. I don't think I could have done it if I was not in a relation ship. And after my husband died, I had a brief relationship that was never right. And, I went along time, you know, doing everything on my own alone. 00;31;00;18 - 00;31;30;03 Unknown Because I was not going to not see the ballet or see the theater. So, I, I wish I could tell you where I'm going next. But my, I will find it. It will come to me, and it probably will be in some way giving back to the community. One of one of the things that I love about being 77, I don't know where we are with our time, but I can. 00;31;30;05 - 00;32;02;16 Unknown I have to close soon. But please take this thought. And this is the thought I want to leave you with. I had decided some years ago that I was going to say nice things to everybody that I met along the way. That people never, ever hear someone come up to them and say, you look just beautiful today. 00;32;02;18 - 00;32;34;13 Unknown Look at your sparkling eyes. Look at how your hair looks today. Something. There's always something that you can say to someone else that will make them feel wonderful. And so I started doing that, a quite a while ago. And when it most of my 70s. Because you can do that at this age. So if I tell a young man walking down the street, oh my gosh, you look terrific today. 00;32;34;16 - 00;33;07;21 Unknown I'm not flirting with this man. So I'm safe. He's safe. Everybody's in a safe environment. And I think that is really the joy of being in my 70s. And I will continue that. And I would like to spread that message to anyone listening. Try it. You will be so happy because you will be constantly receiving those smiles back, and it's so easy to do. 00;33;07;23 - 00;33;19;17 Unknown So. I guess that's the way I would like to close this. Thank you. That's lovely. It's lovely. Thank you so much. Did this has just been an absolute pleasure to talk with you 00;33;19;17 - 00;33;24;05 Unknown And, listeners, we'd like to see more of you and our monthly online programs. 00;33;24;05 - 00;34;03;11 Unknown Make Your Voice heard as together we change the conversation about women aging and visit Aging Reimagined Circle at women over 78.com to learn more. And if you liked this podcast, we have another one to suggest to you. And that is Women's Connection. It's a nonprofit women's group with chapters around the country. Members are vibrant, accomplished women aged 50 and forward who connect around common interests, empower each other to thrive and stick together as they travel through the stuff of life, no matter what comes their way. 00;34;03;13 - 00;34;07;10 Unknown Visit them at Women connecting.org.