Jack Denison is a graduate of Princeton University and served in the U.S. Army Field Artillery during WWII in England, Germany, and France. After that, he served a short time with the U.S. State Department and went on to spend his entire business career with the American Hospital Supply Corp. As president of the Export Division and a lead strategist for various sales and marketing projects, Jack traveled extensively in the Middle East, South America, and Japan. After retiring, Jack did volunteer work that brought him to Jordan, Egypt, Poland, Costa Rica, and Romania. What was it like traveling to so many different countries? And what is the meaning behind the title of his talk? Join us to find out!

View his September Insights presentation to find out:

Insights is a monthly connection where residents can share stories and insights about their lives, careers, and hobbies with Plymouth Harbor employees. A feature of Plymouth Harbor’s developing employee wellness program, OnBoard, Insights is offered at noon on the fourth Friday of each month. Open to all employees, lunch is provided, supported by gifts to the Plymouth Harbor Foundation employee assistance fund. Thanks to Phil Starr, each Insights presentation is videotaped for viewing by employees unable to attend the live event.

Nancy and Jerry Kaplan married after college. Nancy, while raising three children, worked as a professional artist, and at age 50, trained and then worked as a Registered Nurse. As a teenager, Jerry contracted Polio. Despite the lifelong effects, he started and operated a business for 15 years before working for 30 years as an elementary school teacher and principal. What led these two down their respective career paths?

View their August Insights presentation to find out:

Insights is a monthly connection where residents can share stories and insights about their lives, careers, and hobbies with Plymouth Harbor employees. A feature of Plymouth Harbor’s developing employee wellness program, OnBoard, Insights is offered at noon on the fourth Friday of each month. Open to all employees, lunch is provided, supported by gifts to the Plymouth Harbor Foundation employee assistance fund. Thanks to Phil Starr, each Insights presentation is videotaped for viewing by employees unable to attend the live event.

What do medicine, Chicago, and Africa have in common? Paul and Macky Groen.

Paul Groen, M.D. is a graduate of Wheaton College near Chicago, where he was born. He went on to attend Baylor University College of Medicine and took his residency in Detroit. Macky (short for Maxine) graduated from Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and received her R.N. from Presbyterian Hospital School of Nursing in Chicago. She also went on to earn a Master’s degree at Columbia University’s Teachers College.

It wasn’t until 1964, however, that the two met — in Africa. That year, Dr. Groen arrived at Mkar Christian Hospital in northern Nigeria, and by chance, Macky was the director of the nursing school. By 1965, the two were married. Eventually, the couple moved back to the states with their two sons, where Dr. Groen not only went on to study orthopedic surgery, establish a private practice in Wheaton, and teach at Loyola Medical School, but he also founded Doctors on Call for Services (DOCS). DOCS arranges for specialists to travel, on their own dime, and teach African doctors in their fields of expertise.

How did these two end up in Africa in the first place?

View their March Insights presentation to find out:

Insights is a monthly connection where residents can share stories and insights about their lives, careers, and hobbies with Plymouth Harbor employees. A feature of Plymouth Harbor’s developing employee wellness program, OnBoard, Insights is offered at noon on the fourth Friday of each month. Open to all employees, lunch is provided, supported by gifts to the Plymouth Harbor Foundation employee assistance fund. Thanks to Phil Starr, each Insights presentation is videotaped for viewing by employees unable to attend the live event.

From traveling around the world to winning a gold medal in the Arthur Murray dance competition, Kansas City, Missouri, natives Phil and Barry Starr have lived an exiting life together.

In addition to his passion for videography and recording our monthly Insights presentations, Phil held a long and successful career in the insurance business. He graduated from Princeton, earned his MBA at Wharton, and became a certified life underwriter. He joined the Army and retired with a captain’s rank. From there, he went on to R. B. Jones Insurance Brokers in Kansas City, and took the company public before retiring after 36 years.

Barry graduated from Smith College, and having studied in Paris for a year, she tutored in French. She also served in many community positions — as a library board member, an art gallery docent, a church volunteer, and a Junior League officer.

How did these two meet? And what brought them to Sarasota?

View their February Insights presentation to find out:

Insights is a monthly connection where residents can share stories and insights about their lives, careers, and hobbies with Plymouth Harbor employees. A feature of Plymouth Harbor’s developing employee wellness program, OnBoard, Insights is offered at noon on the fourth Friday of each month. Open to all employees, lunch is provided, supported by gifts to the Plymouth Harbor Foundation employee assistance fund. Thanks to Phil Starr, each Insights presentation is videotaped for viewing by employees unable to attend the live event.

Terry and Maureen Aldrich have been married for 16 years. They met in 1999 when she walked into his antique shop, and it was love at first sight.

Throughout his years, Terry has held two very different careers. First, he spent 20 years as a psychotherapist on active duty in the Air Force and as a program director for civilian mental health clinics. Second, he spent another 20 years as a business owner focused on the import and export of Western European antiques and furniture in Sarasota, Atlanta, and Italy. Maureen on the other hand began as a ballerina with the New Orleans Opera. She also studied world dances, ranging from SW Native Americans, Haiti, Brazil, Ghana, Hawaii, and 17th century France. In her career she choreographed ballets, became an associate professor of dance therapy at the University of Illinois, a professor in the history of dance at Vanderbilt, and has published three books on the subject.

What made Terry decide to make the move from a career in psychotherapy to running an antique shop? And how did Maureen turn her passion for dance into a career?

View their January Insights presentation to find out:

Insights is a monthly connection where residents can share stories and insights about their lives, careers, and hobbies with Plymouth Harbor employees. A feature of Plymouth Harbor’s developing employee wellness program, OnBoard, Insights is offered at noon on the fourth Friday of each month. Open to all employees, lunch is provided, supported by gifts to the Plymouth Harbor Foundation employee assistance fund. Thanks to resident Phil Starr, each Insights presentation is videotaped for viewing by employees unable to attend the live event.

“Have I got a story for you!” This phrase is not only Susan Mauntel’s signature slogan, but also accurately reflects her life and career. Susan was born and raised in Philadelphia, but later moved to Boulder, Colorado, to attend the University of Colorado. She was an art major, journalism minor, and destined for show business.

After school, Susan continued west to California—modeling in TV commercials and print advertisements, first in San Francisco, then Los Angeles. From there, Susan’s next adventure was broadcasting – she hosted daily live TV shows in San Diego and San Francisco, interviewing prominent figures like Maya Angelou and Gerald Ford. Then, she co-anchored the news in Los Angeles. Later, she made her way to Aspen, where she made her living with a paintbrush, rendering fine art on furniture, and co-founded a resident theater company.

How did Susan make it in Los Angeles? And what did she learn along the way?

View her October Insights presentation to find out:

Insights is a monthly connection where residents can share stories and insights about their lives, careers, and hobbies with Plymouth Harbor employees. A feature of Plymouth Harbor’s developing employee wellness program, OnBoard, Insights is offered at noon on the fourth Friday of each month. Open to all employees, lunch is provided, supported by gifts to the Plymouth Harbor Foundation employee assistance fund. Thanks to resident Phil Starr, each Insights presentation is videotaped for viewing by employees unable to attend the live event.

Susan Mauntel was our final Insights presentation for 2015. The Insights program will pick back up in January 2016, so stay tuned for more!