Newspapers / The Brunswick Beacon (Shallotte, … / Feb. 17, 1994, edition 1 / Page 72
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r ii /mw/ki wj ^ JJ\v/lc* <V Retirees7 Find Their Way Back Into Workforce BY SUSAN USHER Retirement The word implies letting go. giv mg up. dropping out of society. But. as Albert Myers and C'hris lopher Pandersen note in their r>ook. Success Over Sixty. that tra ditional approach to the "good life" of retirement isn't always what it's cracked up to be. Studies done at Harvard and lohns Hopkins universities report ihe vast majority of retired people list boredom as their primary com plaint. the two write. And people who choose to full\ "drop out" up on retirement survive an average of only six years beyond their retire ment date. Gerontologist Alex Comfort may have been on the right track when he said. "Two weeks is about the ideal length of time to retire." Researchers are finding out what most retirees could have told them up front: As painting contractor and retired professional firefighter Ray Ericksen notes, even if you love the game, "you can only play so much golf." Work?with or without a pay check?is rewarding psychologi cally and physically. It helps keep us alert and healthy. It provides structure for our days and helps us to define our identity. It helps sus tain our feelings of self-worth, competence and confidence. Equ ally important, it provides a valu able network of friends and ac quaintances. Mukunda Rao. an international - I b'Af-f PHOTOS S'JSAN USHEP SESME HORTON came home to enjoy the relax ed lifestyle of the South Brunswick Islands. .4 "retirement" career in real estate keeps her in touch with people and using know ledge and experi ences gathered over a lifetime. R.H. McClure Realty, Inc. m BIAUOR ?Sales ? Rentals ? Construction "For A Vacation Or Forever" Pot McClure ? Buzz Clork -i r\\ o c o z. Ann Hewett (t I U)D/T-0O0O i Jimmy Sandertotd 1-800-332-5476 24 Causeway ? Ocecn Isle Beach consultant on social-development issues, believes it is time to rethink retirement at an arbitrary age. "I think this idea of old age linked to retirement, with a sudden dropping-off from the workforce, is an unfortunate byproduct of the in dustrial revolution." he states in an interview in the Oct.-Nov. issue ot Modern Maturity. Forcing people to stop work sim ply because they have reached a certain age, he insists, wastes pre cious resources and human poten tial in today 's marketplace -though that wasn't always the case. When originated in the 180t)s. the idea of retirement was intended to. in part, avoid waste ol resources by forcing or encouraging out old er, more expensive workers and bringing in younger, cheaper ones. Since that time, life expectancies have changed, rising steadily up ward, and the nature of work itself has changed in our evolving service economy. Though main companies haven't redefined their ideas about retire ment, retirees are doing it them selves. They're refusing to drop out, dry up or put their lives in "park" simply because their hair is graying. If they must leave current em ployment. that doesn't have to mean lea\ in>: the workforce entire i ?y These new retirees eye "retire ment" not as an ending, but as a be ginning, a chance to begin a new lifestyle or a new career, whether through years of advance planning or serendipity. They may move back "home or to a different part of the country where the climate is better or living is cheaper. They may take up golf or some other new hobby, travel, enroll in a local college tor one class or a degree, or volunteer somewhere to help till their new ly expanded leisure hours. Frequently the\ go back to work. In fact, 25 percent to 30 percent of people retiring today will keep working, full or part-time, either for someone cisc. or tor them selves. They may work because they need additional income, to try a new career, because they are bored and want the challenge of a job part-time, or simply to meet new people and have fun. Sennie Horton, Ray Ericksen, Claire Cheney and Jim and Barbara Lowell are just a few of the hun dreds ol men and women across Brunswick County who are helping to redefine what it means to be "re tired" in the post-Industrial Revo lution age. 'Dream Of A Lifetime" At age 21 Iceland native Sennie Gainey married Donald Morton, a manager with Amoco, and moved across the Cape Fear River to Wilmington. It was the first of manv moves AFTER TAKING RETIREMENT Ray Ericksen was going stir crazy until he picked up his paint brushes and turnout gear again?by choice. they would make over the next three dcc.tiles. Raising six children, including one set of twins, they shuttled from Albany, N.T., to Vieksburg. Miss., then to Manes sen, Pa., Harrisburg, Pa., and John sonville, N.Y., back again to Har risburg and Wilmington, then final Is Reading, Pa., for an incredible 14 years in one place. With all the transfers, Sennie al ways knew deep down inside she would eventually come back to Brunswick County. "My lifelong dream has been to get down here," she said from the casual comfort ot an office offering a picturesque view of a landing off the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway. Her dream w as fueled by famil) vacations to Ocean Isle Beach that included her parents, the late for mer Mr. and Mrs. Dillon Gainey Sr. Gainey was a longtime sheriff of Brunswick Count}. "We kept coming back every year on vacation," she recalls, first staying with her sister Frances and late brother-in-law, Shallotte Police Chief Sam West, and later renting a cottage at Ocean Isle Beach. "Anybody who comes to this area ends up feeling the same way," she says, as evidenced by their own mushrooming beach reunion each August. While her husband Don worked hard for Amoco those vears Sennie found a variety of jobs, mostly in hospitals, mostly at the information desk. It was a natural fit. Greg arious and likeable, most people like her as much as she likes them. In 1987 the Hortons built in Crown Creek, on the mainland across from Ocean Isle Beach, and in 1()K8 made the move?on May 21. their wedding anniversary. Soon after returning to Bruns wick County, though, full retire ment began to wear a little thin. Sennie signed up for a real estate course at Rrunswick Community College "simply to have somethinu to do." "1 get lonesome for the kids? that's where working helps," she acknowledges. "1 like being around people and I enjoy helping people," she said. "That's why I'm in real estate. When I sell somebody something, I want them to be as happy in 10 years as they are now." Working in real estate also al lows her to adjust her work sched ule for visits with children and grandchildren scattered from Florida to Pennsylvania. That's im portant, especially now with grand children No. 17 and 18 due this May and June. In relating to new clients, Sennie frequently draws upon her own ex periences living in other parts of the (Continued On Page 38)
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