Westport, CT – Who remembers Amelia Earhart? Not only does Anne Fiyalka remember Amelia Earhart, she flew with her on November 5, 1936 as a sophomore at Warren Harding High School in Bridgeport. Anne recently turned a youthful 99 years of age.
Google any of the women featured in the upcoming “Wisdom Goddess Project” photographic exhibit at Westport’s Saugatuck Congregational Church and undoubtedly you will be busy for at least half the day.
Westport-based professional photographer Suzanne Sheridan approached the twelve women who are featured in the exhibit with the idea of photographically representing their fiercely passionate spirit and purpose for life. Each of the women gave their permission to be part of the exhibit and each of the women has a movie-worthy story to tell, as revealed in their bios at the exhibit. Sheridan wants this photo exhibit to demonstrate a new paradigm for women aging. All are of Medicare age.
Charlene Chiang Hillman is a descendant of a very prominent Chinese family and lives in Weston where she recently retired as Social Worker for that town. Penny Pearlman lives in Westport and is a writer, painter, artist, Flamenco dancer, and author of “Pretty Smart – Lessons from Our Miss Americas.” Marjolijn de Jager of Stamford is a survivor of the WWII Japanese internment camps on the island of Borneo, a peace activist, and is an award-winning translator of French, Dutch and English books. Westport’s Julie Belaga, former chair of the town’s Planning and Zoning Commission, also ran for governor of the State of Connecticut in 1986 and served in the Connecticut House of Representatives from 1974 to 1986. She also served on the board of the Northeast Region of the Export-Import Bank of the U.S.
Fairfield’s Ingrid Bloom is a painter, a lake swimmer, and an advocate of rigorous daily exercise. Dr. Darla Shaw, who teaches literacy-based courses to graduates and undergraduates at Western Connecticut State University, is the oldest senior bandmember in the Wilton Steel Drum band and the Long Lake Kazoo band and runs drum circles for people with special needs. Dr. Dee Unterbach is a Wilton-based psychotherapist, is an avid lap-swimmer, and an advocate for the rights of the aged.
Anne Keefe is one of the founders of the Westport Country Playhouse along with Joanne Woodward and the late Paul Newman and directs the Script in Hand productions at the Playhouse. Bonnie Anne Kai teaches kindergarten and when the school year ends, she is off to work at almost every bluegrass festival in the Northeast. Dr. Judy Hamer, a retired educator who lived in Westport for 37 years and served on TEAM Westport, raised her three daughters there with her husband, Martin. She taught writing at the City College of New York and at Columbia University and management courses at New York University. She earned a BA from Cornell University, a MAT from Smith College, and a Ph.D. in education from Columbia University. In collaboration with Martin Hamer, they published an anthology, Centers of the Self: Short Stories by Black American Women from the Nineteenth Century to the Present.
The opening of the photo exhibit is on Thursday March 19th from 6:00-8:00 pm at the Saugatuck Congregational Church located at 245 Post Road East in Westport. The public is invited. The Sheridan Photography website is https://suzannesheridan.com. For more information contact Katherine Ross at 203-227-1261 or Suzanne Sheridan at 203-222-1441.