Marj Billker Graves

Marj Billker Graves

Author: Shirley Wachtel November 4, 2024 Duration: 45:15

Marj Billker Graves joined the Army Nurse Corps during her final year of nursing school in 1967. She served as a head nurse on male orthopedic wards at Darnall Army Hospital, Fort Hood, Texas, and at Ireland Army Hospital, Fort Knox, Kentucky. As a Captain, Marj volunteered for Vietnam where she continued to serve as a head orthopedic nurse with the 24th Evacuation Hospital in Long Binh. During her tour of duty, she was selected as the nurse for a two-person medical team to accompany both the Bob Hope Christmas Tour in 1971 and the Sammy Davis, Jr. USO Show in 1972. After a return assignment in the United States at Madigan General Hospital, Tacoma, Washington, she resigned her commission to marry her husband, Bob, also a Vietnam Veteran. She was selected as Kentucky’s Vietnam Veteran for USA Today’s 2012 Veterans Day issue, has been featured in numerous articles in The Courier-Journal,  was inducted into the Kentucky Veterans Hall of Fame, is a recipient of the Daughters of the American Revolution Distinguished Citizen Medal, and in 2023 was the first female veteran to serve as Grand Marshal of Louisville’s Veterans Day Parade. She is a retired Occupational Health Manager from UPS.


You might pass them on the street or sit next to them in a cafe, never knowing the depth of their journey. EXTRAordinary PEOPLE is built on a simple, powerful idea: remarkable stories are held by everyday individuals. Host Shirley Wachtel sits down with people from all walks of life-entrepreneurs, artists, community organizers, teachers, and quiet heroes-who have chosen to leverage their unique talents to impact the world around them. This isn't about celebrity; it's about the substance of lived experience. In each conversation, guests share their narratives in their own words, detailing the specific hardships and obstacles they faced and, more importantly, the resilience and choices that allowed them to rise and create change. Listening to this podcast feels like being part of an intimate, revealing dialogue where vulnerability meets triumph. Shirley guides these discussions with empathy, drawing out the nuanced lessons within each story. The result is a collection of authentic accounts that collectively explore themes of perseverance, innovation, and human connection across society, business, and personal growth. Tune in not just for inspiration, but for a genuine sense of what it means to contribute something meaningful, and how ordinary moments can build an extraordinary life.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 44

EXTRAordinary PEOPLE
Podcast Episodes
Dr. Amy Rothernberg - Naturopathic Medicine Advocate [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 35:26
DR. AMY ROTHENBERG has practiced naturopathic medicine since 1986. The American Association of Naturopathic Physicians, 2017 Physician of the Year, she spearheaded the successful licensure of naturopathic doctors in Mass…
Amy Solomon [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 30:49
Amy Solomon was working in the television industry for 10 years before changing careers and decided to make life a little “sweeter.” Together with her mother, she started Just One Bite, a cookie company specializing in b…
Dan Mulcahey [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 26:21
Dan Mulcahey is a radio host and voiceover artist who brings more than a decade of communications experience from corporate marketing and communications to the microphone. Since 2012, he has been a weekend and fill-in ho…
Warren Kasdan [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 54:50
WARREN KASDAN is a retired lawyer with a passion for travel. After 50 years of frequent voyages, he has now visited all seven continents, 111 present or former countries and 45 states. Within days after graduating from P…
Cindy Rabinowitz [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 37:22
CINDY RABINOWITZ is the Director of Cranford Senior Housing in New Jersey. During the past two years, she has tirelessly worked to protect the welfare of the elderly and infirm during the Covid crisis. Cindy has an exten…
Nicole Marshall, Staff Midwife in Paterson, NJ [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 30:29
Nicole Marshall holds a bachelor's degree from Fordham University and dual master's degrees in Nurse-Midwifery and Women's Health from Columbia University. Nicole's interest in women's health combined with her passion fo…
Ron Stallworth, The BlackKklansman [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 46:02
Ron Stallworth is a 32- year, highly decorated law enforcement veteran, who worked undercover narcotics, vice, criminal intelligence, and organized crime beats in four states. As the first black detective in the history…
Melissa Gelfman —Surviving and Thriving with Parkinson’s [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 24:38
Melissa Gelfman’s passion for the performing arts started at age 10. She began singing, dancing and acting throughout her grammar and high school years, did summer stock and regional theater eventually graduating from th…
Sharon Benjamin—Overcoming an Eating Disorder and Finding Joy [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 36:12
SHARON BENJAMIN is a writer, an author, and an exercise enthusiast. She has been participating in some degree of exercise most of her life. She now presents a Facebook Live Aerobics session, Monday - Friday, 6:00 AM, Fac…
Karen Kaplan Klein [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 38:01
Karen Kaplan Klein began her career in illustration as soon as she could held a pencil and has not let go since! Karen has illustrated several books and has shown her dioramas and “clayaramas" in numerous galleries throu…