Irene Rodway, JD
Irene Rodway, JD is an author, attorney, long-term-care advocate living in Georgia. Her drive and determination have served to help her succeed in her career and overcome obstacles in her personal life. Now she has used that drive to create a tool that helps others navigate the more difficult aspects of long-term care and insurance.
In the past, Rodway has worked with the Los Angeles Unified School District. It was there that she met her husband, Bill, who was an attorney. The two fell in love and were married in 1969. With the full support of her husband, she attended the Loyola University School of Law where she was one of only seven women to graduate that year. She passed her bar exam on her first try and was admitted to the California Bar in 1974.
Rodway spent the next several years enjoying her career as a distinguished attorney, even becoming certified to appear before the Supreme Court of the United States. She served on the Board of Los Angeles Trial Lawyers and served as Speaker for the California Trial Lawyers’ Association. She was a member of the Board of Governors of California Women Lawyers Association, and she also founded the San Gabriel Women’s Lawyers Club and served as president for the organization.
Rodway and her husband made a wonderful team, not only raising three beautiful children together but also working together in private practice. They were successful and had offices both in Los Angeles and San Marino, where she spent time working on several mass-tort litigation cases. Through their years together, they watched their children grow and have children of their own. She is often heard saying, “Grandchildren are God’s reward for growing old.”
Nothing in her legal career could have prepared Rodway for what happened in their later years. Bill was disabled by Alzheimer’s disease, and she cared for him. The ordeal of first caring for him in their family home and later finding a facility and dealing with the insurance companies was more difficult than she ever expected. The experience strained her emotionally and financially. Because of this eye-opening experience, Rodway decided to use her experience to help others. She writes about end-of-life care, death, and grief.
Follow her on twitter: @DrIreneRodway
