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Never too late to be what might have been
Why do people who have worked many years and retired from a job take on an entirely different kind of job at postretirement age? Why don't they sit in their recliner and watch TV? I decided to ask some of them. Joe Taylor Joe Taylor of Chatom retired in 1997 from the Ciba Corporation after 39 years as plant safety engineer. He said he "…sat around the house for a couple of years and one day went over to Deerfield Golf Course and asked if they had something that needed doing. I began working a few hours a day," he said, "and now I work seven days a week." Joe's duties at Deerfield include bush-hogging the general area, cutting greens and maintaining carts. Taylor's enthusiasm and joy in his work come through clearly, when he speaks of it. "I get to be outside," he said, "and get to see people from around the county that I grew up with and remember from high school sports competition." And then he laughed, "I get free golf, too." It is evident that Joe Taylor loves his second career. His day begins at 5:30 a.m. and ends at noon. He's been working at Deerfield since 2000 and has kept up the pace even through five major surgeries in the past two years. Imogene Odom Imogene Odom of Chatom retired from the ASCA office (Farm Services Agency) in 1994 as county executive director. She had worked at this job for 38 years since high school graduation. In 1996, she began a whole new career in the office of the Circuit Clerk of Washington County. She says her new job is totally different from her first career. "It was a whole new world," she said. Whereas in her first employment, she set her own schedule as she got out into the county seeing people; her second job in the circuit clerk's office has set duties and a definite schedule. She enjoys her job. Odom keeps the records of criminal warrants issued; and when these become cases, she maintains them in the casebook keeping them updated and ready for court. She has been at her second career for 11 years and shows no evidence of slowing down. Joe Palmer Joe Palmer of Leroy is a Korean veteran who worked in the engineering group at Ciba, retiring after 26 years in 1986; but not quite. Joe went back to Ciba and worked as a consultant three different times after he "formally" retired. Even before his Ciba retirement, Joe began his second career in 1968 with Leroy Water Authority where he is still employed. So he has chalked up 40 years on this job! Joe is manager of the Leroy Water Authority, and his duties include repairing small leaks in the system and spending three-fourths of his week days in the office. When a major leak occurs, Joe calls in a contractor, but as he is required to be on site during repairs, he is often seen standing in the rain beside a roadside in Leroy. Your Humble Correspondent When I was in high school, I was editor of my school paper, I knew I wanted to be a newspaper reporter. That was my destiny, I knew it. I worked on my junior college newspaper, as well. But life has a way of happening and I married soon after graduating high school and when my first child was born, I saw teaching more suited to rearing children. I enjoyed teaching English and still enjoy the occasional hugs I get in Wal-Mart from former students. I retired from the Washington County School System in 1996 and enjoyed the luxury of having time to read books I always wanted to read, and to write articles about my passion: Confederate history. I did some lobbying in Montgomery when Gen. Lee's and President Davis' birthdays and Confederate Memorial Day were on the legislative chopping block to be eliminated. Then on June 3, 2006, Evan Carden called and asked if I would consider "covering the Washington County Commission and school board meetings." I quickly answered yes and that was the start of a job that has been a purely enjoyable experience. From childhood, I have loved to write and now I can write as much as I like, and even get paid for doing it. It is exciting to finally realize one's "destiny," even if you're a grandmother when it happens.
Perhaps it is the work-ethic instilled in those of my generation that keeps us going like the Ever-Ready Bunny? Perhaps it is the need to continue to make a contribution to society? Or maybe like Grandma Moses, who at 78 began painting her Primitives, it is the realization that "it is never too late to be what you might have been."
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