Meet indestructible 88 year old Gertie Hera: on how, ultimately, life is all about love & connection
Today’s guest is no ordinary 88 year old. It’s the formidable Gertie Hera Barton, whose name appropriately translates as ‘indestructible strength’.
Here she talks about her rich, varied and (sometimes) going-against-convention life.
We cover so many topics in this episode:
Losing friends and what you learn about yourself from this
How to find joy, gratitude and beauty all around you
Anger and social injustice
How nature is her church
How life is really all about love and connection
Can Gertie be a modern day influencer when not even on Instagram?!
I had tears in my eyes, and she a frog in her throat, when she spoke so touchingly of the story behind adopting her two boys.
We talk about infertility and the grief around this, and compare different paths to motherhood; creating your own kids versus loving other people’s that desperately need your love.
Gertie’s is a story of love winning out and one that we can all, especially with the current discourse around ‘toxic masculinity’, learn from.
Talking to Gertie again hit home to me the importance of listening to older voices and stories, which society often dismisses, sidelines or, even, mocks. Older is certainly not always wiser but I think, in Gertie’s case, it is.
Hope you enjoy meeting Gertie. Do say hello to her, around Kincraig, particularly the Old Post Office Cafe on a Thursday morning… or even better show her how to get on Instagram so she can get her voice out there.
And if you have any other suggestions of characters in Kincraig to interview on this podcast, please email me on [email protected]
Kincraig Cares podcast is being made on a shoe string out of love, so is very grateful for free resources which make this possible, like the intro and out music which is called 'Holiday Ukulele' by MaxKoMusic, promoted by www.chosic.com/free-music/all/ and part of the Creative Commons Attributions-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Kincraig Cares
The podcast all about the colourful characters and community of Kincraig Village in the Cairngorms National Park in the Scottish Highlands. It's a tribute to, and celebration of, the people and places on our doorsteps and an exploration of the power of community spirit and why it's more important than ever today.
- No. of episodes: 13
- Latest episode: 2025-04-24
- Society & Culture Personal Journals
Where can you listen?
