1956

The brother of one of my golfing buddies up here in Quechee has written a book you might be interested in reading. It's called Beyond Work: How Accomplished People Retire Successfully. The author Bill Roiter is an executive consultant who found in recentyears his clients turning their attention to what's next, the same question many of us have been seeking to answer for the past eight to 10 years.

Dick Abelson has been a practicing attorney forever, retiring only three years ago. His last 10 to 15 years were spent in the New York surrogate court system, doing appellate and estate work. He's in great health, enjoying his three children and their kids, all of whom are close by, and giving thanks for 51 years of marriage to Marsha. But he says he's working harder than ever doing research and filings for his former partners. Understand, he's not complaining. He loves it. Retirement has allowed him to focus on what brings the most satisfaction.

Bill Beard had a very similar story. He's been retired since 1994, but that doesn't come close to describing accurately his activity. He and Phyllis travel a good bit with their tennis friends, playing overseas in a kind of cultural exchange, but his real passion is the not-for-profit arena, in which he is deeply involved. He's on a lot of boards. Plenty of you mirror that in your retirements. The two not-for-profit operations for which he is the unpaid executive director are remarkable. One of them makes wheelchair ramps for the homes of people with significant physical disabilities and financial constraints. The second began creating recreational facilities for young people and seniors. Project Lifesaver has developed transmitters for seniors experiencing some dementia, thus enabling them to move about within their communities without the fear of being lost. The program is also working with autistic children, offering recreational opportunities otherwise unavailable to them. Not satisfied with this labor alone, Bill was part of a team from his congregation that traveled to New Orleans for a weeks work on homes in the 9th Ward, which saw so much destruction. Like so many others he says, "New Orleans can't be forgotten!"

Alan Booth's story is a little different, but the gift of focusing his energies has come with retirement as well. For 40 years he taught African studies at Ohio University in Athens. He's married to another academician. Peggy is a tenured professor at Bowling Green University, on the western side of the state. Retirement has enabled him to spend several hours a day on his newest book, telling the remarkable story of the King of Swaziland, the only African monarch to survive the end of Colonialism. A South African press has expressed interest in publishing this effort. Every bit as important and time consuming is his 17-year-old daughter Grace, who is now looking at the college scene, including Dartmouth.

Sadly, classmates Marvin Bender and Roger Joys have died recently. Their obituaries appear in this and a later issue.

P.O. Box 968, Quechee, VT 05059-0968; (802) 295-8912; stewwood@aol.com