Author: Living 50 Plus

By Catherine Godbey | Living 50 Plus When asked to give advice to those new to decorating for the holidays, Dena Stephenson — a self-described “non-recovering Christmasaholic” — said, without hesitation, “Don’t do it.” Then she laughed. “Seriously, do what you can manage and then try to stop, but you might not be able to stop, because once you start,

By Catherine Godbey | Living 50 Plus Tucked away inside the closet of a guest bedroom, Martha Newman gets to work. Armed with a glue gun, cone-shaped shiny paper, necklaces, earrings, bracelets, watches and broaches, the 75-year-old Decatur woman creates glitzy and sparkly bejeweled trees. She calls the creations memory trees. Each bead, pendant and pearl she hot glues on

By Catherine Godbey | Living 50 Plus The sound of carols filling stores and sight of wreaths on doors can mean one thing — the arrival of the winter holidays. ‘Tis the season for baking cookies, roasting meats and mulling apple ciders. As family and friends gather for festive celebrations, home cooks will turn to their favorite time-tested recipes. From

By Bruce McLellan | Living 50 Plus On most Fridays this fall, Erick Pratt completed work at his law practice in Decatur by lunchtime, climbed into his 2018 Nissan Altima and traveled to college football games across the Southeast — in places like Chattanooga; Macon, Georgia; and Spartanburg, South Carolina. He didn’t go to watch games from the stands. Instead,

By Erica Smith | Living 50 Plus Dale Higdon choked up recently as he reminisced about what his grandfather told him when he got a job with GE Appliances’ new plant in Decatur and became one of 77 employees who started there Aug. 15, 1977. “Boy, you got the chance of a lifetime,” Higdon’s grandfather told him. “You take care

By Catherine Godbey | Living 50 Plus Sliding her fingers along the strings of the dulcimer’s neck, Lori Matthews picked out the recognizable tune of “Oh, Susannah.” “The dulcimer is very easy to learn but takes a lifetime to master,” the 64-year-old Matthews said. Every Wednesday morning, amateur musicians, some wheeling laundry baskets carrying dulcimer cases, gather at the Decatur-Morgan

By Catherine Godbey | Living 50 Plus Leigh Ann Hurst never considered herself creative. That changed, though, when her mother, Glenda Sartain, dropped by with some gemstones. “It was the summer of 2009. She had gotten the gemstones to entertain my niece with. They made necklaces and my mother asked me to do it with her. At first, I told