Local retirees share the spice of senior living

Author: Margaret Moslander

Volunteering at the Middlebury teen center. Teaching a workshop on the history of baseball. Visiting and volunteering in third world countries. While this may sound like a list of popular Winter Term activities, it actually illustrates some of what Middlebury's senior community has been up to.

On Jan. 9, the Middlebury College Office for Staff Development, with Middlebury Elderly Services, hosted a lunchtime discussion on preparing for retirement. Sheila Andrus, a staff member in the Office for Staff Development, and Pat Carpenter, a social worker from Middlebury Elderly Services, invited five members of the Middlebury community who are at various stages in their retirement to share their experiences and wisdom with those who are preparing to retire. While one may expect that a discussion on retirement may revolve around finances, especially in today's economic climate, Pat Carpenter made it clear that this discussion would focus on the "social and psychological" aspects of retirement.

Carpenter got the discussion started with questions for each member of the panel, beginning with their motivations for retirement. Marge, the most recently retired member of the panel, said that she retired because "the school board offered a bailout." The honesty of her response would set the tone for the rest of the discussion, with the panel being frank about the difficulties and rewards of retired life. There was a strong emphasis placed on how the patterns of life change with retirement. Because there is no strict schedule to follow after stopping work, participants suggested that it is important to get involved in other activities. Rudy, a former professor of sociology at the College, said that after retiring at 62 he "did nothing for two years." Other participants on the panel agreed with Rudy that it takes time to "recover" from the working world, but after that recovery takes place, it is important to rejoin the world in some other capacity.

The other capacities in which members of the panel rejoined the world are many and varied. One of the most interesting stories was told by Jan, a long retired woman who had worked for Geiger of Austria. Upon retiring, she joined the Peace Corps and taught "small business development" in South Africa for two years. She was in South Africa when Nelson Mandela was elected president, and she talked about the excitement that swept the country at that time. After leaving South Africa she worked at an orphanage in Uganda. Her story was inspiring; she created a new, exciting life for herself after having worked the same job for most her life.

Rudy, for his part, rejoined the community after retirement using the teaching skills he honed at Middlebury College. He now teaches classes at the Elderly Services College. His specialty is the history of baseball, and he is an avid baseball memorabilia collector. Mal and Pat, the only couple on the panel, are active participants in many Elderly Services activities and also volunteer at the Middlebury Teen Center.

The members of the lunchtime discussion were inspired by the stories of these retirees - in fact, it is accurate to say that many of their views on what retirement can and should be were changed by the members of the panel. Pat Carpenter, in her closing remarks, reminded the participants that "some people retire to live, and others retire to die." The members of the panel certainly retired to live, and continue to inspire others in the Middlebury community in many different ways.