As of August 1, 2002, Jeffrey Joel and I passed the torch of the Crone Chronicles ezine website and all twelve years of back issues of the print version of Crone Chronicles to Glenda Martin, of Laurel, Montana.

I cannot imagine a better person to carry on this cronework than Glenda. She and I met at the first Crones Counsel in Jackson, Wyoming, in 1993, and from that time on she was deeply associated with the magazine. Besides being one of the first stockholders in the Crone Corporation, she also transcribed all the tapes from interviews for publication and was our intrepid Raven Reviews editor.

Through all these years Glenda has been one of the first people I would call if I needed an ear to listen to whatever conundrum or difficulty I was facing at the time. Her patience was inexhaustible, her energy unflagging, and her capacity to view the whole Crone movement and to network with others is enormous.

For this entire time Glenda has been the caregiver for two people of great age, her husband and her mother (only getting out of the house once a week for lunch with a friend and a massage). Whenever I would call to check in with her and thank her for all of the work she was doing, she would tell me that Crone was her lifeline to the world, and that she was grateful to be able to go to her desk and hear the voices of crones speak to her as she transcribed them into her computer.

And yet it was Glenda, all this time, who was doing perhaps what is the most significant and soul-searching cronework, caregiving for those who are dying. Her husband made his passage a few years ago, and her mother is now bedridden and near death. The timing for Glenda to now take over where Jeff and I leave off seems uncanny, as she will soon be able to devote her enormous energies entirely to this project, having completed her own very exacting and long-term Crone initiation. May we all benefit from her experience her patience, her endurance, and her long-range view of who we are, where we came from and where we are going.

Though Glenda's caregiving responsibility meant that she was only able to attend the first two Crones Counsels, she made such an impression that throughout the years women have come up to me at Counsels and say, "Where's Glenda? How is she?" I continue to be amazed at this, because people still talk about her after all these years! For those who do not yet know her, I am delighted and grateful to be able to introduce you to this remarkable woman. The entire Crone community is going to benefit from all that she is and what she has learned.

Ann Kreilkamp
August 1, 2002

Dear Readers of Crone Chronicles, past subscribers and website visitors:

I have accepted the torch passed on from Ann Kreilkamp and Jeffrey Joel of Crone Chronicles, a quarterly print magazine they co-published from 1989 through the spring of 2001. Ann was the Editor, and Jeffrey, her husband and partner, was the Business Manager.

My goal, as the new Editor and Publisher of Crone Chronicles, is to continue an active web presence, and to get Crone Chronicles into print form again as soon as possible. Working together we can once again be a voice for women of age. If you can help with this wonderful magazine and have editorial skills, networking, publishing advice, financial support, you name it!‹ please let me know.

I have been associated with Crone Chronicles since 1993. Since that time, both my relationships with individual crones and my crone work have carried me, in fact have often saved me, as I worked through difficult life passages. Last month I midwifed my mother's peaceful passing in my home. Within a few days of her dying, I realized that her death was a completion for me as well, that I can now truly call myself Crone.

When Ann phoned me in June, 2002, offering this opportunity to facilitate the next phase of Crone Chronicles, I was aware of the magazine as having been a unique bridge in my life. I was also excited about taking Crone Chronicles into new areas. Anticipation of the work I would be doing with the magazine served as a rainbow crossing during my mother's final days and weeks. There were times, during her final journey, when life felt dark, and yet a greater part of me said: "If I have helped midwife death, then I surely can midwife this next phase for Crone Chronicles, knowing The Crone is guiding me."

By re-energizing Crone Chronicles, I hope to hold open this sacred space for women's voices to speak and be heard, individually and in chorus. Each of us both has our own story to tell and a heart for supportive listening to others' stories.

Let us once again resume the dialogue. What are you doing now? What are your interests or passions? Your questions? How can we share with other women? What energies and excitement can younger women share with us? In what ways can we serve Earth and all her inhabitants? What ideas for creating peace can we plant here and now for generations to come?

Please join me in this great Crone endeavor to resurrect a magazine which will both connect us as women who are aging consciously, as well as serve as a stepping stone for the conscious aging of generations to come. We need not fear. The Crone will guide us! She's ever ready to use willing hands and hearts for purposes greater than we can imagine.

Glenda N. Martin
September 14, 2002
Laurel, Montana