Yvonne Caputo – 77

About me

Yvonne Caputo has been a teacher. She taught in the Erie Pennsylvania Public Schools for 18 years. She has also been the Vice President of Human Resources at a retirement community, a corporate trainer and consultant, and a psychotherapist. She has a master’s degree in education and clinical psychology.

Her book, Flying with Dad, is a story about her relationship with her father through his telling of World War II stories.

Her second book, Dying with Dad was released two years later. It shares how she and her dad had tough conversations about what he wanted in the end.

She has always been a storyteller. She has used stories to widen the eyes of students and to soften the pain of clients. It’s her stories that result in rave reviews as a presenter and speaker. Yvonne lives in Pennsylvania with her best friend (who is also her husband). Together they have three children, three grandchildren, and a Bernedoodle.

What do you do and why do you do it?

I am deliciously semi-retired.

I never dreamed that I would publish my first book at 72, let alone my second at 75. The semi-retirement means that I get to enjoy downtime while marketing my books at the same time. I have always enjoyed seeing clients in psychotherapy, and I continue to have a small client base. From time to time, I am asked to conduct training around the issues of communication, bullying, conflict resolution, and how they impact the workplace.

When I close my eyes for the final time, I want to know that I have made a difference.

What changed for you after age 50?

Dad and I were on the phone one dark January evening, and he told me a quirky, funny, off-the-wall story about being a navigator on the B-24 bomber during WWII. He had never shared that part of his life, and I asked for more. Those conversations became my first book, Flying with Dad, and the writing of the book gave me the father I always wanted. Dad trusted me with how he wanted his final journey to be, and we made it legal. I was with him, and I was able to grant him his final wish. That was to leave his home feet first on a gurney. The grief I experience of his loss is tempered by a sacred joy because of his trust in me.

What would you tell the 20 or 30-year-old YOU?

What do you think you’ll tell yourself in retrospect at the end of your life?

This is overly simplistic, but every time I was handed a lemon, I made lemonade.

What impact do you think increased visibility can have on your business?

I would love to see my books in the hands of more readers.

Who or what inspires you and why?

I have two answers.

1. My favorite life lesson quote comes from M. Scott Peck’s, The Road Less Traveled. “Life is difficult. This is a great truth… Because once it is accepted, the fact that life is difficult no longer matters.”
2. There are so many that have an impact on me, but the latest is Susan Cain’s book, Bittersweet. In it, she explores how sorrow, longing, and grief are necessary to feel the other side — joy, compassion, and spiritual connection.

Something else I’d like to share

I sat back and just let the idea come. I am so grateful to my mother for sharing her love of reading with me. She gave me a world to explore.