“In the early sixties, I was perfectly happy being a wife and mother—the prototypical fifties housewife,” recalled Lee Kass, a town captain for Barack in Amherst. But after the birth of her second child, she began to feel a growing sense of independence, which prompted her to return to the working world. "I decided that if I didn't go back to work, I'd go insane," she said.
In 1965 Lee decided to go back to school. She completed a Masters in Special Education and taught emotionally troubled kids for five years. She also set up community programs for the mentally disabled.
In time, Lee earned her doctorate and became a practicing psychotherapist. While teaching adults at Empire State College in upstate New York, she grew particularly interested in the continued mental development experienced by adults. Now retired from psychological counseling, she teaches classes on “Conscious Aging” at the Rivier Institute for Senior Education.
Lee says, “My intention is to get students to open themselves to the possibilities that the later years in life present many opportunities for continuing growth and development.”
“This is an incredible time of life, and offers opportunities for doing things we didn’t have time for in earlier life stages.” she said. “At the same time, there are challenges in dealing with changing health, relationships with adult children, and the financial uncertainties of retirement.”
Lee admits that she shares the anxieties of many of her students, particularly on facing retirement. “Thank God for Social Security,” she said, “and thank God for my husband’s pension. We are comfortable, not wealthy, but we are able to live well enough.”
She is working for the campaign because she believes that Barack has an unmatched ability to understand and empathize with people from all walks of life. “Barack can relate to people of all ages, but I know he understands the challenges faced by seniors because of the role his grandparents played in his upbringing,” she said.
This ability to empathize, Lee believes, will enable him to inspire more Americans to enter the political process to reclaim politics from the special interests. As a result, she’s working on a primary campaign in New Hampshire for the first time.
She said:
I have never felt so passionate about a candidate, as I do about Barack Obama…I feel as passionate about him as I think my father felt about Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who was his hero.
Comments are closed for this post.
