Mature Lit: Everyone has a story to tell Gwen Binegar
Gwen Binegar, who leads both the bimonthly writing workshop and poetry reading circle for Older Adults in Manhattan Beach, displays her published works. PHOTO BY ESTHER KANG Gwen Binegar, 88, has lived on both coasts and traveled to all seven continents. But one common theme threads her experiences together: helping others. Her profession as a social worker and sociologist has taken her from the Bryn Mawr College Child Study Institute to the San Diego Regional Center for Developmentally Disabled, where she was the chief of case management for 17 years before retiring in 1991. In those days, Binegar didn’t consider herself a writer, but she had a way with words. In 1995, she co-authored a report calling for paperwork reduction in the California Regional Center system. The report led to policy changes that eliminated outdated and redundant paperwork. Wherever she was, Binegar immersed herself in volunteer work. When she was living in Seattle, she volunteered at a school for emotionally disturbed girls as well as the mental health ward of Harbor View Hospital. Since settling in Manhattan Beach almost a dozen years ago, she has found a way to marry her love of writing and giving back…
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