Welcome to Listen To Older Voices,
a program produced by Rob Greaves for Uniting Melba and
podcast through the Toorak Times and Tagg.
Listen To Older Voices presents the stories, views and opinions of our older citizens. It is predominantly in a life & times format, with interviewees reflecting upon their lives from earliest memories. An underlying principle of the program is to promote the concept of positive ageing, reinforcing the principle that older people have & continue to make a valuable contribution to both their local & wider community.
In this, the final part of the Life and Times of Shirley Howard, we are able to look back on her life with her and understand that through force of will, circumstances and help from everywhere but her birth family, Shirley has been able to deal with everything life has thrown at her. We learn of the circumstances that bought her and Tony Howard together, and how their marriage has led to 27 years of a loving relationship that has resulted in Shirley experiencing far more of a normal life than in previous years.
Now Shirley is dealing with Dystonia, which is a neurological disorder of the muscles. In particular it has affected Shirley’s ability to control certain eye movements. We learn that she has faced this issue with the same determination as the other difficult periods of her life. Putting it simply, she never gives up!
Shirley has fully embraced Tony’s passion for vintage cars and they both are part of an ever growing local vintage car club that has seen them travel all over the place, including Darwin and across the Nullarbor to WA, all in a Model A Ford.
Her story is both compelling and inspirational and has both great tragedies and great triumphs and certainly reflects the fact that, age is no barrier to living a full life.
Click to hear Shirley Howard – Part 3
Previous LTOV Programs can be accessed clicking on this icon – 
[Listen To Older Voices receives funding from the Commonwealth Government through the Commonwealth Home Support Program Program]
