Her voice as she greets you is younger than the proverbial springtime, and the fact that she'll be 90 on New Year's Day is merely a statistic.
Her friend Gerrie Ryan calls her "a remarkable lady," although she admits that she's a bit prejudiced because she's been a friend of the amazing Hanna McGhee for 40 years. There are days, Gerrie says, when she wishes she never knew Hanna, because her endless accomplishments make Gerrie feel quite inadequate. And that's quite understandable.
When Hanna spoke to me, we talked about her newly published book, "The Decision on Planet Five," which is a green sci-fi book, all about saving forests and aimed toward "young boys who feel that they had a bad shake at the beginning and had to work out of it."
It takes place in a world where wood pulp is the most valuable product. The book is called, in the trade, a "hard" sci-fi book because it was researched so intensively. Hanna took a trip to Federal Way in Washington, which is, she told me, between Tacoma and Seattle to visit Weyerhaeuser, the socially responsible corporate lumber giant, where she spent an afternoon with the head of the chemical department and followed up with further research locally.
Three copies of her book are in the Vista library and will soon be in others. Of course, she also speaks at the libraries about her works and the many other subjects she knows well. She's written two other books and a series of plays about Mexican teenagers that did very well on the high school market.
Hanna is, by training, a landscape architect, and that was her first successful career. She trained at UCLA and with Fred Lang and taught at Palomar College for five years. Her subject? Gardening and landscaping. Her husband was in construction, and their two fields melded well.
After his death, she needed something new in her life so she began to teach in public schools. When she left the school system (she never really retired, although she says she did) she eagerly went on to other challenges. Currently she teaches Spanish to home-schooled kids involved through the 4-H Clubs.
She is (no surprise) an organic gardener, plays duplicate bridge, grinds wheat to bake her own bread and, according to Ryan, is an amazing resource when planning landscapes because she knows the botanical name for every plant.
Her vitality is unending. She's preparing a Thanksgiving dinner for 11 this year and just as big a meal for Christmas. But she has assistance, she says. Her second husband is 10 years younger than she is and is a great help.
If you feel that life is boring or has let you down, listen to Hanna McGhee, who says, "You can do absolutely anything you want to do."
Bib sale: The Discovery Shop in the RB Plaza is holding a holiday extravaganza from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and from noon to 4 p.m. Sunday. Available are gently used holiday clothing, ornaments, gift items and collectibles.
The American Cancer Society shop is run by volunteers, many of them cancer survivors, and all proceeds go to the American Cancer Society to fund cancer research, patient services, education and advocacy.
Donations are accepted any time the shop is open and a tax receipt is always available. Regular hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays, Fridays and Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesdays through Thursdays and noon to 4 p.m. on Sundays.
The shop is at 16787 Bernardo Center Drive and the phone number is 858-385-0479. Some folks have trouble locating the shop but if you stand in front of the CVS Store and look all the way across the drive, you'll see the Discovery Shop's awning.
My word: Jeremiad. A lamentation or prolonged complaint. An angry or cautionary harangue. From the biblical Jeremiah, reputed author of the Book of Lamentations.
