Living With Hope Tracey & Mary Bowman

Authors of Hope I Don't Die Before I Get Old

Tracey and Mary Bowman were inspired to write their book,
  while caring for their aging parents through chronic illness, fractured hips, surgery and death. As each other’s support network, they shared secrets and discoveries, tips and advice--amassing a wealth of wisdom on the topic.

Mary Boone Wellington, artist, inventor and businesswoman lives in The Great North Woods of NH. Discovering a world of frustration as she began to help her mother through her passage to old age, Mary Boone notes “The most surprising thing to me was how ineffective I was at making a real difference in my mother’s life. I had felt certain this “caregiving stint” was going to be a pleasant interlude of quality time spent with my beloved mom. Instead, it turned out to be incredibly stressful for us all.”

Tracey Bowman’s first exposure to caretaking was as an aide in a nursing home when she was 17. She later became a midwife completing her nursing degree at Rhode
Island College and her Master’s of Nurse-Midwifery at the Univ of Penn. She has spent 30 years taking care of mothers and babies. Currently she is a clinical teacher in the Nurse-Midwifery program at Yale Univ and maintains a private practice in southern New Hampshire. She says, “Even with all my knowledge as a nurse, I found
myself feeling overwhelmed and confused at times while helping my mother and father.