VILLAGE MEMBER STORIES
Each month, we share the story of one of our members. Past Member Stories can be found in the archive at the bottom of the page.
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Mary Elizabeth McCue, Portsmouth How long have you lived on the Seacoast? I’ve been on the Seacoast all of my life because my father and his siblings bought land near the ocean in Rye and had houses built all in a row so that they could be together and their kids could be raised together in the summer. Needless to say, we had a wonderful childhood growing up like that, and I still spend a lot of time in Rye. The rest of the time, I grew up outside of Harvard Square in a neighborhood of some famous professors from MIT and Harvard. My father was a business person but my mother was a serious Cambridge intellectual who needed to live there. In fact, my father nicknamed her “Three Mile Radius” because she wouldn’t move more than three miles beyond Harvard Square! What did you do professionally prior to retirement? I was a hospital chaplain, though I didn't exactly retire; I had a sudden and extreme brain aneurysm and had to relearn everything from walking and talking to tying my shoes! How do you most like to spend your time now? Now I’m enjoying studying again as I’ve always been a student at heart and needed to see if I could still do it after the brain hemorrhage. It’s also very exciting to help others navigate the aging process, all the way from early adjustments and revised self-images up to end-of-life preparations. I draw on my palliative care experience and coach training, of course, but I’m also inspired by the wonderful energies and smiles I see around me at Seacoast Village events. Why did you join the Village and how does it fit into your long-term plans? I really joined the Village because all of my friends were spread around the country and suddenly I had no local friends to check out plays and restaurants with! In terms of long-range plans, I’d like to grow into both accepting and offering deeper involvement. What aspects of the Village are you most interested in? I am most interested in social and cultural events. What would you say to a friend interested in joining the Village? I would say that the wide range of experiences this group offers is remarkable and can shift as your life shifts. For example, I joined assuming that I would be the one offering assistance to others; the next thing I knew, I was requesting rides once a week. I also received technical assistance from a high school student just before he graduated and went off to college. That was a complete delight! Thus though my focus is social, my benefits have been diverse. I’m sure it would be so for a friend. Read more member stories by clicking on the names below. |
