Arden Eversmeyer

Jean Arden Eversmeyer, known as Arden Eversmeyer (April 4, 1931 – November 14, 2022), founded the organizations Lesbians Over Age Fifty (LOAF) and Old Lesbian Oral Herstory Project (OLOHP) to give older lesbians visibility and a sense of community and to document their stories.

Early life Born to Herbert and Audrey Eversmeyer in Stevens Point, Wisconsin, on April 4, 1931, Eversmeyer graduated from Texas State College for Women with a bachelor's degree in health and physical education in 1951. In 1964, she completed a master's degree in education from Sam Houston State University. For 14 years, Eversmeyer served on the steering committee of Old Lesbians Organizing for Change, a national organization for lesbians age 55 and older working to confront ageism and promote social justice.

In 1987, Eversmeyer became a partner to Charlotte Avery, and they married in 2008. Project volunteers have collected over 800 stories from women around the world.

Arden's work with OLOHP was the subject of a documentary short film called Old Lesbians, directed and edited by Meghan McDonough in 2023. Old Lesbians received the Audible/Aesthetica Listening Pitch and was commissioned by The Guardian.

For six years, Eversmeyer was a mayoral appointee to the Houston Agency on Aging.

Mary Speegle, creator of the podcast The Lesbian Story Project, combined two interviews with Eversmeyer into a 45-minute episode published on October 17, 2016.

Eversmeyer died in Houston on November 14, 2022.