5 Questions With: Alice Hornbaker

Posted January 5, 2009, 11:00 am in News


In our ongoing series called "5 Questions With," Growing Bolder looks for insight and advice from people who are living life with attitude, proving that it's never too late to go after dreams. Growing Bolder member Alice Hornbaker may be retired, but she's working harder than ever! She's even surprising herself, and she's on a mission to inspire others. To read archived articles from our 5 Questions With series, click here.


How are you Growing Bolder? Have there been challenges to overcome in your life; things that surprised you?

Never did I dream in a 60-year career that included becoming an author, a book editor, magazine editor, newspaper feature writer, radio and television personality and listed in Who’s Who, that some day I’d retire to a community of retirees. But I did exactly that at Maple Knoll Village in Cincinnati. It was the best decision of my life.

After a 30-year marriage to my college sweetheart collapsed into divorce, I realized I had to strike out on my own. Two of my children were grown, the third was graduating high school and about ready for college. That was a hard time, but plowing through it gave me a new perspective on what I could do, could not do, and how to accomplish what it was I wanted to do with the rest of my life. There were many potholes on the bumpy road trip, but now in my mature years I see it was a journey well worth traveling.


What were the happiest times in your life? The saddest?

The happiest? So many happy tales I could tell. But one of them was when my first child, a son, born with a birth defect, a hole in his heart, in 1955, underwent corrective but experimental surgery in 1955 at Mayo Hospital in Minneapolis, and survived. The famous young doctor, the late C. Walton Lillehei, performed the long surgery on this tiny, five-month old baby. He not only survived, he thrived, and today he is the father of three great sons and a grandfather of one little girl.

The saddest time? Losing my two older sisters.

What is the best lesson you have learned from someone else, and how do you apply it to your life today?

My mother was a super star in my eyes. She worked so hard during the Great Depression to make her little restaurant, The Victory Diner (appropriately named) succeed. She never belly-ached about her long shifts there, the money problems, etc.  She laughed, sang songs to her three daughters that I can still recite the words to (I have no singing voice), and she made all three of us promise to finish college. Only a good education, she said constantly, will give you all the opportunities you want in life.

I, the youngest, was the only one who fulfilled that promise. Why? Because my Mom’s determination, grit, and hard work rubbed off on me. That was her legacy. She told me anything I wanted to achieve I could, not as a gift, but only after first dreaming big, then working hard to make it a reality.

What are your goals for the next 5 years? 10 years? 20 years?

Long goals at my advanced age? Ha. But right now, I’m working on my second book, this time a novel about a fictional radio station (“WOLD IN CINCINNATI&rdquo,  a station targeted toward mature adults (surprise, surprise). Goal? To sell it. Beyond that, to make every day count as though is my last, as it could well be.


Do you have any heroes? They can be real, made-up, literary, historical ... be creative!

Of course my mother was my first hero. Then as a child, I was thrilled with the First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. To this day she remains tops with me. I can’t recall now the name of a woman who became a foreign correspondent in World War II, but I following her exploits and they made me determined to follow her lead -- to lead.  In today’s world I also admire Diane Sawyer, President Bill Clinton, and president-elect Barack Obama.

There also is a woman here at Maple Knoll Retirement Community who is my current hero. She has survived two heart attacks, bypass surgery, pneumonia, etc. Yet she has a fine wit, volunteers to help others and lead. I admire her greatly because she turns ever major adversity into a triumph of mind, body and spirit. And she laughs a lot, every day.

As a child and then into my teens I was told women can’t be reporters, can’t have a professional journalism career, etc. But these women, and so many others, inspired me. I think a lot of me is like Scarlet O’Hara in “Gone With The Wind,” who was strong, practical, often tough, but with a head full of dreams.

Is there anything else our members should know about you?

The words in two songs Frank Sinatra recorded, my favorites, are “That’s Life” and “My Way.” Those words sum up who I am.   In one song, “That’s Life,” there is a line, “I just pick myself up and get back in the race…”  

I did, and I do.

(editor's note -- Alice isn't alone in the studio. Her 10-year-old dog Brandy barks on cue, whenever Alice says her radio station's call letters on her radio show!)


Want to learn more? Check out Alice's Growing Bolder profile here, her WMKV-FM link here, or e-mail her here.

To read archived articles from our 5 Questions With series, click here.



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