Joan M. Erikson describes her search for a better living situation for her frail husband and then presents her poignant recounting of his subsequent death. She uses these experiences to suggest strategies to meet the physical and emotional needs of the fragile old and to support those who work with them. With a personal understanding of the challenges of old age, Mrs. Erikson revisits the eighth stage of the life cycle and proposes a new ninth stage for the changes that face the very old. She describes the difficulties of being in one’s nineties without losing what she calls one’s indomitable core.

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