After 32 years of serving the Northern Arizona Council of Governments (NACOG), Mary Beals Luedtka is looking forward to retirement. As the Area Agency of Aging (AAA) for Yavapai, Coconino, Navajo, Apache Counties, NACOG is a key partner of the Arizona Department of Economic Security (DES) in providing critical aging services to older adults in Northern Arizona. Through her long and varied career, Mary helped to build NACOG's aging programs before leading the agency for nearly two decades. Her career with the agency took her to the White House as a delegate, and placed her on Governor Katie Hobbs' Advisory Council on Aging. But her journey to NACOG was more varied still.
Mary grew up on a farm in a multigenerational household in the small town of Red Oak, Iowa. The daughter of a farmer and botany/zoology major, she wrote for herself a storied life that took her to stages, rodeos, parades, and placed her in roles as diverse as a Licensed Nurse Practitioner and a real estate agent, before she found her way to NACOG.
She had gone to school for music after singing in a band five nights a week. Her favorite was a six-piece in Colorado, three women and three men.
She later owned and performed in a Wild West troupe, and her show, The Oak Creek Gang, had up to 50 players at one point. She played Miss Cinnamon, and rubbed cinnamon into her costumes and hair to stimulate the olfactory memory. They performed in the Fiesta Bowl parade (winning the trophy over 15 years in a row), in Tombstone, Arizona on Labor Day, and in rodeos on the Navajo Nation.
Tragedy spurred a career change. After multiple deaths in her family and problems with her then-husband, she decided to throw herself into new work.
"I was drowning," she recounted. "Really, through a series of events in my life, I really needed to go back to service. I am a professional singer and I was singing, but I realized it wasn't enough."
She was initially hired by NACOG in 1991 to launch three new programs. At the time, she was told that the agency was known for everything but aging services. Her job was to change that, and she did.
She implemented a Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program for the region, the elder benefits program, and the legal program for elders. Except for the legal program, which is now contracted out, the programs are still operating today.
She continued singing full-time while working at NACOG, and yet still found the time to be proactive in meeting NACOG's needs; when she heard that there was going to be a need for a paralegal, she went to school to become a paralegal while also working 60 hours a week at NACOG.
Mary served as the elder rights supervisor overseeing the ombudsman program for an immense region encompassing approximately 48,000 square miles. In her fifth year, she received the Sisyphus award for the State's active elder abuse task force, named for the Greek figure who was tasked with pushing a rock up a hill in the underworld day after day, only for it to roll back down again. The award even looks like Sisyphus, a small metal man pushing a rock.
In November 2003, Mary sought to further her career as well as her impact in Northern Arizona, applying for the position of NACOG director in November 2003. After what felt to her like an eternity, she was offered the position and started in February 2004.
Under her leadership, the agency expanded. There were twelve staff members when she was hired in 2004. They now have 47 staff in four offices. The programs she helped to create endured, and older adults in Northern Arizona knew where to go when they needed assistance. Mary's leadership also helped NACOG through the COVID-19 pandemic, during which she even went so far as to go into the field herself to deliver groceries.
One of her favorite career moments was when she received an invitation to be a delegate to the White House Conference on Aging - for the second time. When she first attended in 2005, the conference didn't take place at the White House, despite the name. This changed when she attended again in 2015, and President Barack Obama was there to meet with the attendees at the White House.
Mary was moved: "I went down on my knees. I cried, because I'm an advocate. I'm known in Washington as an advocate for rural America. To be invited as a delegate for the White House Conference on Aging for the second time... was absolutely overwhelming."
"Knowing that your little voice from tiny Dewey, Arizona can make a difference is huge, and then passing it on to everyone I work with in advocacy... if you don't speak up... you can't do it in a vacuum," she continued.
Mary may be finished with NACOG on a day-to-day basis in her role as a director, but she's not finished with her work in elder advocacy or advocacy for rural Americans and Arizonans. However, she does plan to travel and "download" to give herself some rest, as well as spend more time with her family.
"I just think it has been an honor for me to have the opportunities that I've gotten through NACOG and combining my different schoolings and my experience to let me grow," said Mary . "The current executive director has given me a lot of autonomy and trust, and that has been just a wonderful experience for me."
"It's just been a great adventure, let me tell you. I will continue."