As Minds Eye broadcasts “Happy Birthday” wishes over the airwaves to listeners born on September 27th, Lula Leontsinis will be the one next month with 101 candles on her cake!

When Lula was born in 1909, nearly every baby born in America was born at home. Few homes had either a bathtub or a telephone. The average worker earned 22 cents an hour and only six percent of all Americans had graduated from high school. By the time Lula was a student at St. Louis’s Central High School, graduation rates had risen, however, few students, especially female students, continued their education beyond high school.

A bright young woman who loved to read, Lula wanted a college education, and she wanted to teach history. Graduating from Washington University in 1933 with a Master’s Degree in
secondary education, Lula got her wish. She became a teacher. At the height of the Great Depression, Lula taught history to students attending St. Louis City Public Schools. She continued
teaching until her 1935 marriage to John Leontsinis. During the 1930’s, school district policy prevented married women from teaching, so like many women of her generation, Lula devoted
herself to her family and church. The Leontsinis children, George and Mary Ann, attended public schools and earned degrees from Washington University. By 1952, the school district had reversed its policy, and Lula returned to the classroom.

For the next 20 years, Lula worked as a substitute teacher sharing her love of history with hundreds of students.

Lula’s husband passed away in 1991, and for the first time in 56 years, she was alone in the home she and John purchased in 1941. By this time, macular degeneration had made it nearly impossible for Lula to see the printed word even with the help of magnifying devices. She missed reading, and most of all she missed her daily newspaper. After hearing about Minds Eye, Lula
wasted no time in applying for a radio. Mary Ann Mastorakos, Lula’s daughter, remembers her mother listening to her Minds Eye radio at the kitchen table. “It was a constant companion.
Mom’s favorite programs have been the morning news – she loves hearing the St. Louis Post Dispatch, and even though she doesn’t have a pet, she enjoys the Pet Hour!” Mary Ann added, “Mom also liked hearing the weekly grocery store ads. She’d always tell me when one of her favorite items was on sale and she especially liked Schnuck’s 10 for $10 sales.” Lula lived in her own home, with minimal assistance, until moving into a retirement home at the age of 98.

With her big Greek family: a son, a daughter, their spouses, six grandchildren, their spouses, and six great-grandchildren by her side next month, Lula’s birthday is sure to be a festive occasion.
One thing is for sure, with her family there to help, she won’t have any problem blowing out the candles. From your friends at Minds Eye, a very Happy Birthday Lula!

Listeners looking to slim down, tone up, or just get healthy have a place to turn to each week on Minds Eye. With the Weight Loss Show, listeners get a chance to hear tips and tricks from Shape, Fitness, and Weight Watchers magazines.

There are many reasons that Minds Eye’s listeners are interested in shaping up. In fact, diabetes is the leading cause of blindness in adults age 20 to 74. Maintaining good health is important to managing the disease. However, often after losing their sight, people become even more sedentary because of a perceived lack of mobility. According to Lighthouse International, 38 percent of people with visual impairments report reducing their leisure activities because of their disability. People with visual impairments are also more likely than their peers to experience falls and consequently, bone breaks, according to a study in Ophthalmology.

The Weight Loss Show was conceived after Minds Eye’s staff found that listeners flooded the phone lines every time weight loss was mentioned. One of the main concerns was that exercise gurus and those who touted their diets did not understand the challenges that people with vision loss face when they tried to lose weight. It only became natural to offer a show that discussed weight loss specifically for Minds Eye’s audience.

Volunteer Priscilla Kissinger reads the Weight Loss Show each week. She offers helpful
suggestions, exercise and eating tips, keeping ever mindful to offer practical advice that can be
applied right away, easily.

The Weight Loss Show airs every week on Minds Eye at 11:00 a.m. on Wednesday and 11:00 p.m. on Thursday. It can also be heard on Minds Eye’s podcasts and on at least five other reading services in the United States.

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