As a tenured professor at Purdue University and Western International University, Dr. Stepanich published articles in academic journals, which she dismisses as “boring.” On the other hand, during her fifty year membership in Sweet Adelines International, she wrote humorous scripts for barbershop quartet and chorus shows.
After retiring from the university, Dr. Stepanich embarked on a career in volunteerism. However, her volunteer career did not include anything as noble as caring for the sick and homeless. No, her aspirations took her in directions that met her own needs – the need for fun, humor, light heartedness, and show business.
She became a volunteer voice actor and broadcaster for Sun Sounds of Arizona, a radio reading service for the blind and print-disabled, where she wrote original radio theater productions, broadcast international and national news, and read nostalgic magazines stories about the good old days. Her radio play, “Voices From the Front,” was honored as the 2010 Program of the Year from the International Association of Audio Information Services.
Not content with this twice-a-week activity, she added a volunteer job as a researcher/interviewer for the Sun Health Research Institute, interviewing the elderly in pursuit of the variables that contribute to a long, healthy life. Her conclusion? Laughter IS the best medicine!
Throughout her busy retired life, she continues to perform in a comedy barbershop quartet, Lilac Crazy. “We chose that name – not because we’re crazy about the color lilac – but because … we LIE like crazy!”
But Mary Ellen doesn’t lie, she just tells stories.
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Humor she wrote 