Wyoming Arts Council

"Measure of a Heart" author speaks at Sheridan Public Library on June 10

Uncategorized | June 3, 2009

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Mary Ellen Geist (pictured above), author of “Measure of a Heart: A Father’s Alzheimer’s, A Daughter’s Return,” will speak at the Sheridan County Fulmer Public Library on Wednesday, June 10, 6 p.m. This free event is sponsored by the Ucross Foundation, where Geist is now a writer-in-residence. Books will be on salke by Sheridan Stationery Books & Gallery.

Here’s more info from a Ucross press release:

More than 5 million Americans are believed to have Alzheimer’s disease, with 350,000 new cases diagnosed each year. Millions of caretakers around the country are seeking guidance and inspiration in helping stricken parents and loved ones. Mary Ellen Geist, an award-winning journalist, has written about her experience caring for her father in a moving memoir, “Measure of the Heart,” which includes a foreword by acclaimed neurologist and writer Oliver Sacks. (Her father, Woody Geist, was recently featured in the HBO special, The Alzheimer’s Project.)

The book has been hailed as “a compelling, respectful—and somehow reassuring—book for every caregiving family that must look Alzheimer’s, or any serious illness, in the face,” by
Susan Strecker Richard, Editor-in-Chief, Caring Today.

The book grew out of a 2005 New York Times Thanksgiving piece by Geist that became one of the most read and emailed stories of the month. Geist had left her high-powered radio job in New York City to return home to Michigan to care for her father, who is suffering from Alzheimer’s. In her book, published by Springboard/Grand Central Publishing, she draws on her own personal story as well as extensive interviews with doctors and others who have cared for an aging parent, to inspire and provide advice for everyone experiencing similar situations. She offers insights into coping with the daily tasks of caregiving, how the personality of the patient affects decisions, the progression of the disease, how to encourage interaction with the loved one you are caring for and much more.

Mary Ellen Geist was raised in a family of musicians, writers, and nature-lovers in a century-old farmhouse in orchard country outside of Detroit, Michigan. Her father, Woody, the CEO of an industrial distribution company, was also a jazz singer who performed for more than four decades with a 12-man a capella group called The Grunyons. Mary Ellen Geist’s first job in broadcast journalism was as a reporter and anchor at WPZ Radio in Petoskey, Michigan. She later moved to Los Angeles to work for MGM/UA. She eventually became what’s called “morning streets” reporter at KFWB Radio in Los Angeles. She spent twelve years at KGO Radio in San Francisco and later moved to WCBS Radio in New York to be afternoon anchor. She has been honored with numerous awards, including national and regional Edward R. Murrow Awards for best newscast and investigative reporting, and Reporter of the Year. She divides her time between the family cabin on Walloon Lake and her parents’ year-round home near Detroit.

For further information, please contact the Ucross Foundation at (307) 737-2291, or sdynak@ucross.org.

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