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Crafting a theatrical return in retirement

Retired Queens teacher Rebecca Owens-Goldhammer staged a theatrical return to her first love in crafting her Second Act in retirement -- as a designer of theatrical headpieces.

Retired teacher becomes a Dragon Sister

Retiree Rita Kelly is setting the world ablaze in her second act as a Dragon Sister, one of an all-woman crew of dragon boat racers in Florida, where she and her teammates brave the waters in a thousand-year-old sport of endurance and speed.

Making beautiful music after retirement

Music has long been the soundtrack to Nancy Dunetz's life, and now the retired English as a second language educator has found a new calling as a violist for two ensembles in New York City.

Many happy (tax) returns and other helpful acts by former counselor

While many people were in the midst of holiday preparations or celebrations on Dec. 23, UFT retiree Theresa Hambel was taking a course on changes to federal tax law. It was part one of her annual training as a Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program...

Dancing to his own drummer again

When Roy Fialkow retired in 2019 after a 29-year career as an adaptive physical education teacher, his life came full circle: He returned to Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo, where he had been a dancer in his 20s, as the nonprofit’s education...

Easing tension and defusing pain as a chaplain

Susan Kramer has always been the type of person that people gravitate toward when they are struggling with a life dilemma or need advice and support. After retiring at the end of the 2020-21 school year, she saw an ad for a course with the United...

Former Queens teacher spends retirement on the run

Retired special education teacher Patricia Garone took her athleticism to a whole new level after she retired in 2016 at age 59. Since then, she has completed eight Half Ironman triathlons, two Full Ironman triathlons and dozens of other races.

Filling a void with novels about her heritage

Retired educator Dahlma Llanos-Figueroa has sought refuge in libraries and books her whole life, and now she is contributing her own works to libraries — historical novels that reflect the richness, complexity, beauty and brutality of her Afro-Puerto...

Training her sights on cancer research

Retiree Peggy Keyes establised a model train museum to raise money for pancreatic cancer research in honor of her husband, who died of the disease.

Visual arts career draws on teen dream

Gail Postal, a 26-year teaching veteran, is relentless in the pursuit of her second career, constantly exhibiting and selling paintings, entering hundreds of juried art shows and putting her boundless energy into making her teenage dream come true.