Gwen Austin

Twilight Manor Gwen Austin

Andi Lane, activity director at Twilight Manor, faces tremendous obstacles in her efforts to enhance the quality of life for nursing home residents. The more she succeeds, the more complications occur...in her life and in the residents'. In Twilight Manor, we learn that to survive, both figuratively and literally, human beings must become involved.

Gwen Austin was born in Brooklyn, NY in 1940, and raised in Queens Village, NY and New Canaan, CT. She graduated from Ohio Wesleyan University, Delaware, OH in 1962 with a BA degree, as a psychology major. The start of her career in recreation and therapeutic recreation began in 1962 when she was hired by the American National Red Cross and stationed at Madigan General Hospital (now Madigan Army Medical Center).

In 1963 Gwen married Gary Turbyfield, a US Army serviceman who later transferred to the US Air Force.

From 1967-1968 Gwen served with the American Red Cross at the 12th Evacuation Hospital in Cu Chi, Vietnam, while her husband was stationed in Labrador.

Military family life is a life of travel, and Gwen found positions whenever and where ever she could. These included jobs as activity director in skilled nursing facilities in Tacoma, WA and in Sumter, SC.

After Gary's retirement from the Air Force, they moved to their chosen home in Tacoma, WA. Within fourteen months, Gary was dead of a heart attack.