Welcome to The Centenarian Playbook 👵
A newsletter about health, aging and winemaking.
Kay Gemello, my 102-year-old grandmother, is the inspiration behind The Centenarian Playbook.
I’m Kevin Ferguson, a Bay Area writer, who spent years as a journalist toiling in the shady underworld of Las Vegas. But that was quite a while ago. I returned home to the San Francisco peninsula in the early 2000s to be close to my grandfather, Mario Gemello, who was battling cancer. He was a larger-than-life figure, a winemaker for nearly fifty years. He made everybody laugh. Sadly, he lost his bout three years later.Â
During the pandemic lockdown, I started to share his stories here on Substack, while helping to caregive for his widow, Grandma Kay. One day while taking her to a medical checkup, she was asked for her I.D., triggering what was becoming a routine reaction: You’re 100? Oh my! What is your longevity secret?Â
That’s when it hit me: perhaps Grandma Kay has quite a story herself. Her longevity is remarkable, but her world of senior driving challenges, medical alert pendants and pillboxes is something else. With the help of the New England Centenarian Study (which she’s a part of) and other resources, I’ve been getting a better understanding on her environment, as well as the grief she’s been dealing with since the death of her husband of 64 years. Grandpa Mario died in 2005. Despite this, Grandma Kay carries on.
The reason I write this semi-monthly newsletter is to provide some humor in your day during challenging times. Also, I aim to help others who may be going through similar challenges themselves or with aging parents or grandparents. Hopefully, some of my stories will help readers approach their aging relatives with empathy and compassion.
Why Subscribe?
You’ll get twice monthly emails that fall into mostly three categories:
Grandma Kay’s longevity tips
Gemello Winery legacy stories, and
Family history research nuggets
I’m sure you’ll find Kay and Mario Gemello as quite lovable characters.
About Me
I worked as a journalist for over a decade, covering sports, business and politics in the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles and Las Vegas.
I’m writing a memoir about my bond with my grandparents, California winemaker Mario Gemello and his centenarian widow Kay. The forthcoming book is called, Rain on the Monte Bello Ridge, a memoir about health, aging and winemaking.
In the meantime, tell your friends!