Your Story is Worth Telling: How Judy Geller Published a Memoir Later in Life
For nearly five years, Judy Geller worked to bring It’s Just Cheeseburgers, Honey to life. More than a writing project, the memoir is a tribute to her late husband, Arnie Geller, and the remarkable life they shared over 50 years.
Judy calls the process a “highly emotional Mt. Everest to climb.” But writing the book also gave her a way to revisit a life of creativity, love and adventure—and preserve those memories for her family.
Author Judy Geller
Who Is Judy Geller? A Life of Acting, Music, and Adventure
Judy grew up in Muskegon, Michigan and studied acting and archaeology at the University of Michigan. She pursued professional acting and earned her first serious theater role as Millie Owens in Picnic, appearing alongside Burt Reynolds.
Then, in 1969, she met Arnie Geller in what she describes as an “eyes across a crowded room” moment of love at first sight. Arnie had recently earned a gold record for the soul song “Stand By Me,” performed by Spider Turner. The couple married soon afterward.
Over the next 50 years, Judy and Arnie built a life shaped by shared creativity, travel, family, and unexpected opportunities. It’s the kind of life that shows why meaningful pursuits don’t have an expiration date: continuing to create, learn, and tell your story can be an important part of happiness and purpose in later life.
How the Titanic Led to Judy Geller’s First Book
One of the defining chapters of Judy and Arnie’s life together began with the RMS Titanic. Yes, that Titanic.
Arnie became president of RMS Titanic, Inc., the company responsible for holding the rights and the obligation to protect recovered Titanic artifacts. The wreck rests about 12,500 feet below the surface of the North Atlantic, a depth Judy illustrates by noting that even if you stacked roughly 10 Empire State Buildings on top of one another, the Titanic would still be at the bottom.
Judy and Arnie Geller
Judy played an important creative role in the work as well. She helped design the original exhibitions that told the Titanic’s story and wrote the first exhibition catalog. That exhibition continues to travel internationally.
The experience also led to Judy’s first book, Titanic: Women and Children First, published in 1999. The book chronicled the experiences of women and children who sailed on, suffered through, or perished in the disaster.
That earlier project established Judy as an author. But It’s Just Cheeseburgers, Honey called for a different kind of writing: one rooted not in historical research, but in the memories, emotions, and relationships of her own life.
Why Judy Started Writing a Memoir Later in Life
Judy wrote It’s Just Cheeseburgers, Honey as both her life story and an homage to Arnie, who died in 2019. He supported her creativity and filled their years together with love, travel, adventure, and extraordinary experiences.
It’s Just Cheeseburgers, Honey Judy’s recently published memoir
In the prologue, Judy explains her purpose:
“This book is my attempt to make peace in some meaningful way by revisiting his multiple achievements, his acts of kindness, and the gentle and loving way he dealt with me and our daughter, Samantha, as he stood arms around us on our family journey through this world.”
For Judy, writing a memoir later in life became a way to honor Arnie, reflect on loss, and create a lasting account of the people and experiences that helped shape her family.
Why Self-Publish a Memoir? Judy’s Answer
Why did Judy choose to self-publish her memoir? She chose self-publishing because it offered a faster path to publication than the traditional process. Being in her 80s, she didn’t want to spend years waiting for that process to unfold.
From first idea to publication, It’s Just Cheeseburgers, Honey took almost five years. The challenge was not only writing and editing; it also meant returning to deeply personal memories of her marriage and Arnie’s death.
For anyone wondering how to write a memoir, Judy’s experience offers a useful perspective: there is no required timeline or publication path. A memoir can take years, be self-published or remain private. The essential step is making room to remember, organize, and share the stories that matter.
Choosing self-publishing allowed Judy to retain control of the project’s timing and complete it on her own terms.
Should You Write a Memoir Even If You Never Publish It?
Judy’s answer is yes.
She believes memoir writing can be a gift to family and to the writer. It preserves family stories, helps future generations understand the experiences that shaped them, and may give the author a clearer perspective on their own life.
It’s Never Too Late to Tell Your Story
Judy Geller’s memoir reminds us that it’s never too late to tell your story or to pursue something you’ve always wanted to do.
A memoir doesn’t need to become a bestseller, or even be published, to have lasting value. Putting memories on the page can preserve the people, relationships, and turning points that helped shape a life for children, grandchildren, and future generations. Just as importantly, the process may help the writer see their own journey with greater clarity and meaning.
For Judy, It’s Just Cheeseburgers, Honey became a way to honor Arnie, revisit their remarkable life together, and make peace with loss. Her experience also reflects a broader theme about happiness in later life: fulfillment often comes from making time for the pursuits that matter most, whether that means writing a book, learning a new skill, creating something, or reconnecting with a longtime passion.
For someone else, that story may begin with a childhood memory, a family recipe, a first job, or a moment that changed everything. The important thing is not when you begin or whether anyone else reads it. It’s choosing to make room for the things that help give your life meaning, and leaving behind a piece of your story for those you love.
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Judy is a client of Capital Investment Advisors, LLC (“CIA”) and received no compensation or other benefit for participating in this article. Photos, book excerpts, and personal information are used with permission. Her participation is not a testimonial or endorsement of CIA or its advisory services. Her story is shared solely to illustrate her personal memoir-writing and retirement experience and should not be interpreted to suggest that any client will achieve similar financial results, retirement experiences, publishing outcomes, or lifestyle outcomes. The ability to pursue retirement goals depends on many factors, including an individual’s financial circumstances, savings, investment performance, spending needs, health, and personal objectives.
