If growing older means slowing down, these folks didn’t get the memo. They must have missed it amid their full-time jobs, side hustles, and packed social calendars. We talked to three sensational seniors in Berks to learn more about how they are making the most of their golden years.
Sandy Graffius
Controller for the County of Berks | Age: 82 | Reading
“I’ve been here forever and I’m not leaving.” Berks County wouldn’t know what to do without East Reading native Sandy Graffius. After retiring as President of her family’s small manufacturing company, Sandy was looking for a challenge, and she found it in her second career as an elected official.
Woman on the Move
Graffius Burial Vaults was started in Sinking Spring by Sandy’s father-in-law in the late 1930s. Her husband then took over the family business, but after he passed away in 1981, it fell to Sandy, who ran it successfully for 25 years. In 2003, she decided it was time for a change and passed the company to her daughter, Kelly. Says Sandy, “I always tease people and say I wanted her to learn what stress was!”
She wasn’t sure where she would land next, until her friend and former Recorder of Deeds Joyce O’Brien recommended that she run for office. Sandy noted that she had no experience with local government but was assured that the county needed more businesspeople, and more women, in office.
Vote for Sandy
Sandy entered her first term as County Controller in 2004. As Controller, Sandy supervises the fiscal affairs of the county. Four terms later, Sandy is still keeping county officials on their toes. “People ask me when I’m going to retire, and I tell them I’m retired to the county because my job here is wonderful,” she asserts.
Sandy is up for re-election next year and she is ready to run again. “I think I’m going to run because I love parades,” she jokes. “When you’re an elected official they let you ride in all the parades.” But practicing her “queenly wave” from the back of her Mustang convertible isn’t the only perk she enjoys. Sandy also has the opportunity to host a monthly program on BCTV that shines a spotlight on some of the lesser-known nonprofit organizations around Berks. “I’m learning so much about what is available in our county,” she says. “It’s amazing.”
Just Try to Keep Up
As if her full-time position as a county official and her moonlighting as an emcee and parade queen weren’t enough, Sandy’s social calendar is overflowing. She is devoted to her three daughters and five grandchildren, sings with a barbershop chorus and quartet, and plays in a pinochle club.
She has regular tickets for plays at the Santander Performing Arts Center and Broadway on Market in Philadelphia and travels the world with her girlfriends. To date, she has been all over Europe and has visited China, Russia, Israel and Egypt.
On what must be a rare night at home, Sandy cooks and bakes, providing her staff with sweet treats every Monday morning. She is an avid reader and even learned to make jewelry with her daughter, Jane. When asked how she manages to fit it all in, she just says, “I’m never bored; I’ll tell you that!”
Charles J. Adams, III
Author & Storyteller | Age: 71 | Exeter ToWnship
History buffs and Halloween lovers in Berks and beyond know the name Charlie Adams. Many have experienced one of his paranormal tours, and many more have read Ghost Stories of Berks County or Berks the Bizarre. But few may know that Charlie’s writing career began with music.
Rocking on the High Seas
Charlie’s love for music began in school, where he was active in chorus as well as playing keyboard and singing lead vocals in a rock band. He continued to play in a band throughout his time in the Navy, writing songs aboard ships on the North Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea. When he left the Navy in 1968, he put his writing skills to work as a reporter, and eventually editor, at the Berks County Record.
A Chance Worth Taking
It was during his time at The Record that Charlie discovered his penchant for the paranormal. His first ghost stories were written in the weekly newspaper. “I was more interested at first with folklore and legends,” Charlie explains, “but I discovered that ghost stories were quite popular with the readers and focused on that.” His writing, which combines stories of the bizarre and unexplainable with local lore, is inspired by W.B. Yeats and Edgar Allan Poe.
“Eventually I realized that by simply compiling many of the stories, I could put a book together. I took a chance and it worked out.” Since taking that chance, Charlie has published more than 35 books highlighting the ghost stories of Berks County and surrounding areas and has also co-authored several books on other topics that include folklore, shipwrecks, train wrecks, and even baseball.
Globetrotting with Ghosts
But Charlie’s writing career isn’t limited to just the paranormal. In addition to his bi-weekly “Berks the Bizarre” column, he has also been writing a weekly travel column for the Reading Eagle and working as a radio announcer at WEEU 830 AM for more than 30 years. His research has taken him all over the globe. He and his wife, Dr. Theresa Adams, have explored exotic locales to learn their history and legends, and to lead a ghost tour or two. Adams has led tours in England, Scotland, Wales, Bermuda and the Bahamas in addition to areas throughout New England and the Mid-Atlantic. “It is one of my unbridled passions. I am invigorated by finding new and interesting places, either 10 or 10,000 miles away,” Charlie says. “I have been lucky to be able to travel to just about every destination I have desired, and I hope to continue finding new places to visit.”
When he is not globetrotting or adding to his impressive list of published works, Charlie spends his time deep sea fishing, vacationing on Long Beach Island, and enjoying his four grandchildren. He hasn’t given up on his music career either; he cites singing the national anthem before Reading Fightin Phils and Philadelphia Phillies games and banquets as a favorite pastime.
For more information on Charlie’s books and a local tour schedule, you can find him on Facebook at @CharlesJAdamsIIIGhostBooks.
Suzanne Christie
Director of the Tutoring Centers at RACC | Age: 74 | Wyomissing
According to Suzanne’s daughter Heather, “While most seniors are slowing down as they enter their golden years, my mom zips around Berks creating goodwill wherever she travels.” During her tenure at Reading Area Community College (RACC), Suzanne has turned the school’s tutoring centers into “a resort-like oasis,” and that’s just her day job.
Preparing for the Future
As director of RACC’s tutoring centers, Suzanne not only coordinates the tutors and programming for all four of the college’s tutoring centers, she’s also the Campus Academic Coach, working one-on-one with students to share strategies that promote academic excellence.
Among the many programs she has implemented, perhaps the most successful have been Finals De-Stress Week, Math and Writing Awareness Months, and Poets and Writers’ Teas. She is also in the midst of implementing a peer mentoring program that pairs successful upperclassmen with incoming freshmen. “I have so many students tell me they wished they had someone to go to for help navigating their first year, so we’ve started the mentoring program. I’m really excited about it,” Suzanne says.
Preserving the Past
It was her passion for helping students that also launched Suzanne’s side hustle, Suzanne Christie Antiques. She bought her first vintage dresses to use in fashion shows to benefit children at risk. Twenty years later, Suzanne is a premier source for vintage clothing and antiques.
She spends her weekends searching for treasures at auctions and sells her discoveries at Adams Antiques, Denver, Pa.. “It’s been really fun. You never know who is going to come looking for something,” she says. And she has had some interesting customers. Her wares have appeared on HBO’s Boardwalk Empire, on the television movie The Life of Lizzie Borden, and in photoshoots for Ralph Lauren. New York designers seek her out to buy clothing and props, and she has had customers visit her stand from all over the world.
Embracing the Present
Despite her busy work schedule, Suzanne always makes time for her family. She regularly babysits her eight grandchildren and attends as many of their soccer games, lacrosse matches and dance recitals as possible.
Her focus on family is so important that she has taken on yet another project. With the help of her daughter and granddaughter, Suzanne is bringing the grassroots phenomenon “Listen to Your Mother” to Berks. On Mother’s Day 2019 they will host local writers at Wilson High School to share their stories about motherhood. “It’s three generations working on the project, and it’s to give a microphone to motherhood,” Suzanne explains. “We think it’s going to be a great platform for writers to showcase their talents.”
With more projects on her plate than ever, Suzanne shows no signs of slowing down. In fact, she says, “There’s nothing I want to give up, and I feel like RACC’s my second home! I’m probably going to be 100 and they’ll be asking me when I’m going to retire.” Until then, she is simply grateful for her health, her family, and her ability to do it all.
