Finding Friends & Adventure
Billings group connects women 50 and forward
June Luptak may be retired, but there’s nothing retiring about her. She’s always up for adventure, and just last summer joined friends who hiked more than 18 miles round-trip from Lake McDonald up to Sperry Glacier in Glacier National Park. The 4,800-foot elevation gain was daunting, but the hikers were up to the challenge.
“We were four women 69 to 74 years old,” says June. “We were the oldest in the Sperry Chalet dining room, and it was awesome.”
June and her fellow hikers are part of a nonprofit group called Women’s Connection. For 10 years, the Billings chapter of Women’s Connection has been helping women who are “50 and forward” find friends and adventure. For many women, their 50s and 60s are a time of transition, and as their circumstances change, the size of their social networks can shrink. Their children may be grown, they may suffer the loss of spouses, and if they retire, it can become harder to get together regularly with work friends. Women’s Connection offers opportunities for women to walk through this season of life in the company of others who are in similar situations.
“This was the first organization I found that really isn’t asking anything of you other than to take care of yourself, to find a place for you and what you love and find people who have commonalities,” says chapter founder Evelyn Noennig.
Plans for launching a Billings chapter of Women’s Connection started in 2015 after Evelyn read the book, “Smart Women Don’t Retire—They Break Free.” At the time, she was looking ahead to retirement and thinking about the next chapter of her life. The book’s message resonated with her.
“The thought in my head was ‘What am I going to do when I retire?’” Evelyn says. I’d step away from a job that is really out in the mainstream and is busy and active with a million people, and then all that goes away.”
The book led her to a New York-based group called the Transition Network, which later changed its name to the Women’s Connection. After learning more about the organization, Noennig knew she wanted to start a chapter here in Billings.
“I pulled people together I knew from different places, so we weren’t doing the exact same thing or didn’t have the same coworkers or friends,” says Noennig. “That way the group would be really diversified.”
Noennig found a lot of support for launching a local chapter and collaborated with a small steering committee to make it happen in 2016. Today, the local chapter includes more than 130 members. Many have been with the group from the start.
“It has really made me understand the strength and bond and support women can give one another, and it’s a really special thing,” says Noennig. “After being in the business world, which can be pretty cutthroat, the great thing is these women are all past that and ready to just enjoy life, have adventures and make lifelong friendships.”
Mari Purchal joined the Billings chapter in 2021 after moving here from Dallas, Texas, to care for her mother. She was looking for the kind of support and friendships she had built over many years in Texas.
“The group helped make the transition almost seamless,” says Mari. “I went from raising kids in Dallas to coming here and being here for maybe a year and having the same type of support group.”
Women often spend most of their lives caring for others, and it can be challenging for many to think about taking time to do something for themselves. Women’s Connection offers so many activities that members can easily fill their calendars, but they choose just how active they want to be.
“You can decide whether to participate or pass on it,” says Mari. “It gives you more flexibility to feed into the lives we’re living.”
Group member Jeanine Blehm engages in several special interest groups within the organization. Last year, she found the group especially valuable after her husband passed away.
“I’m blessed to have all of these girls who are so supportive and so many of them have been through the same thing,” says Jeanine.
Each month, Women’s Connection hosts a large “meet and greet” gathering for members and newcomers. The connections forged at those events grow deeper as the women join some of the 33 special interest groups the organization offers.
Want to catch a movie at the Art House Cinema and Pub? There’s a group for that. Enjoy hiking or bicycling? You’ll find fellow travelers who want to tackle local trails. Whether you’re into crafting, volunteering, walking, traveling, wine tasting or even TED Talks, you’ll find like-minded women who get together regularly. If you can’t find a special-interest group that meets your interests, you can create your own group.
Women’s Connection also offers peer groups that help women form deep friendships as they transition into new seasons of life. They gather in each other’s homes for wide-ranging discussions, encouragement and support.
“Transition peer groups involve a small group of women, about six to eight, who meet monthly and pick a topic to discuss,” says Billings Chapter Chair Marti Miller. “It’s a good way to get to know people at a deeper level.”
Women’s Connection ties women together not only in Billings, but across the country. The organization started in New York 25 years ago and now includes chapters in 15 cities. Marti says partnering with the national Women’s Connection organization gives women a wonderful opportunity to connect with women nationwide. Each month, members can join Zoom seminars featuring speakers discussing a wide variety of topics. The Zoom sessions proved especially valuable during COVID, when many women were isolated at home.
“It really brought a whole new dimension of experience and ability to connect with people across the whole country,” says Marti. “Many of the larger chapters in the East have kept up a really robust offering of virtual programming.”
This fall, several women in the Billings chapter will get a chance to meet women from other chapters in person when they board a cruise bound for the Bahamas. It’s another adventure designed to help women like June Luptak thrive in this season of their lives.
“It really has enhanced my life and made much more joy,” June says. “It’s a much fuller life than I would have had without meeting the women I’ve met.”
For Evelyn and the women who worked so hard to launch the group years ago, it’s a blessing to see so many women staying active and forming special friendships.
“I’m very proud of it,” she says. “The fun thing is to go to an event and hear women laughing and enjoying themselves. It’s more than I ever expected. The thing that has touched me the most is when women come up to me and tell me this group has saved their lives.”
WANT TO LEARN MORE ABOUT WOMEN’S CONNECTION?
Membership in the group is $140 annually. To find out how to join or learn more about the different interest groups within the organization, visit womenconnecting.org.
