January 2006

Gray-Haired Techie

Susan Wakefield is not the kind of senior citizen who has to ask her grandchildren for help running her VCR. In fact, she teaches people how to use far more sophisticated equipment.

Wakefield  first became interested in television production toward the end of her career as an elementary language arts teacher. “I’d had some experience videotaping classroom lessons, and I learned that a local cable company could provide equipment and training so we could make and broadcast student productions,” says Wakefield. She quickly caught the video bug. When she retired, she started videotaping weddings, and produced a professional video on warehouse safety. Three years ago, she got involved with the Iowa City/Johnson County Senior Center, which runs its own TV studio, known as Senior Center TV (SCTV).

Assisted by University of Iowa graduate students, SCTV volunteers learn to produce cable television shows. Sometimes Wakefield does the teaching. “We have a great bunch of people,” says Wakefield. “At 65, I’m one of the youngsters. We have people in their mid-80s.” Shows range from studio interviews to performances by the Senior Center ’s band and choir.

One of Wakefield ’s favorite projects was a 2004 video on the 150th anniversary reenactment of the Grand Excursion of 1854, a VIP trip by railroad from New York to the Mississippi River, then by steamboat north to St. Paul, Minnesota.

“I love it,” says Wakefield. “Most of all, I love watching volunteers doing something that lets them age creatively.”

—Matt Simon

Remembering ‘Steam Donkeys’

Merv Johnson grew up in Oregon logging camps in the 1940s, when giant “steam donkeys” powered the winches that dragged huge felled timbers from the forest by steel cable.

Johnson, like his father, worked as a choker-setter, with the  hazardous task of cinching the end of a moving cable to a fallen tree. “The old steam donkeys worked at only one speed, so when you set the choker on a tree, the donkey didn’t wait for you to get your hands free of the cinch,” says Johnson. “You worked on its schedule, so you worked fast.”

But just as he came of age, steam was being replaced by gas-powered equipment. “I was traumatized,” he says. “When steam went out, I had no more interest in working as a logger.”

Johnson became an industrial education teacher, but never lost his love for the steam era in logging. Even before he retired, he started tracking down Oregon  ’s remaining steam donkeys. Today, preserving history is his full-time activity. He’s written a book, In Search of Steam Donkeys, and many magazine articles. He has located 45 antique steam donkeys in old lumber camps and compiled dozens of oral histories.    

“The old logging days were important,” says Johnson. “I want to see that history preserved.”

—Matt Simon

January 2006

By Thomas Grillo

When Jo Ann Evans taught elementary school just outside of Portland, Oregon, she never did anything more adventurous on her vacations than housekeeping or yard work.

But that all changed in 1999 when she retired after three decades of teaching. In a span of six years, Evans has climbed Mount Saint Helens in Washington, hiked the Vatnajökull Ice Cap in Iceland, reached the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa, and completed a 190 mile coast-to-coast trek in northern England.

“When I was teaching, I wasn’t physically fit. I was in a classroom all day, corrected papers at night, and, in the summer, I just did projects around the house,” said Evans, 63. “Ironically, I had to retire to become fit.”

And Evans is not alone. Teachers who were once content with routine trips to the Bahamas, Europe, and Disneyland are now taking on extreme challenges in retirement.

Thirty years ago, most Americans believed the stereotypes associated with aging: hit 50 and the road led straight downhill. At most there might have been a bus tour or an island cruise along the way.

Today, Americans over 50 are recognizing the possibilities in their mature years. At 60 and beyond, they find themselves still in their prime, with an average life expectancy much longer than that of their grandparents. Retirees have more time, energy, and money than their parents ever dreamed about. This newfound freedom has allowed them to be more daring in their travels.

While some retirees are content to sit back and relax or perhaps take on a less stressful part-time job, many retired Baby Boomers, especially educators, are seeking experiences in exotic locations. Travel agents who specialize in getaways for the over-50 crowd say many retirees have already seen the Eiffel Tower and the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Now travelers are setting off in search of new adventure in places such as Alaska, South America, and Africa.

Agents say the most popular trips include safaris that offer close encounters with Africa’s wildlife, South American tours to the remote Galapagos islands, the Peruvian Amazon, and the Great Barrier Reef in Australia.

Into the Yukon

Consider Lilchy Huffman: Last summer, this retired science teacher booked a 10-day trip to Alaska and took along her great niece and nephew. The trio rode the Skagway, Alaska, White Pass Yukon train. The narrow-gauge railroad, a historic civil engineering marvel, was built during the Klondike Gold Rush in 1898. The three-hour trip took them from the port of Skagway, up the mountains to White Pass Summit at 2,865 feet.

“The trip was spectacular,” said Huffman. “We saw the Skagway River, glacial cut valleys, and beautiful rock formations. By the time we reached White Pass there was virtually no vegetation because it’s above the freeze line.”

Unlike Jo Ann Evans, Huffman was no novice traveler. While teaching for 33 years in Prince William County, Virginia, she toured China multiple times. She also flew in a hot air balloon over the Australian Outback, spotting wild horses and kangaroos from the air, not saying a word because “we wanted to enjoy the beauty in silence.”

“I don’t have any fear,” Huffman said. “I can’t explain why.”

Huffman got the idea to see Alaska after flying over the state several times on her way to China. One night, watching a Discovery Channel program about an Alaskan cruise, she put the trip on her to-do list.

The cruise ship started in Vancouver, Washington, then made its way up to Ketchikan, Alaska, and through the islands of the Inside Passage to Skagway.

Perhaps the most exhilarating part of the trip was a bus excursion to Denali National Park to see Mount McKinley, America ’s tallest mountain. Denali includes more than six million acres and encompasses a complete sub-arctic eco-system, home to grizzly bears, wolves, sheep, caribou, and moose.

Huffman and her companions then boarded a nine-seat plane to Coldfoot, Alaska, 60 miles north of the Arctic Circle. From there, they drove to the Arctic town of Wiseman, population 30, where the small tour included a visit with a year-round resident.

“It was a trip back in time. The man lived in a log cabin, trapped furs to make into coats to keep warm, and had cut six cords of wood to get through the winter,” she said. “But I couldn’t help but notice that he owned a TV and a computer.”

The 3,000 Steps of Machu Picchu

Then there’s Marilyn Boyce. In 2003, she and her husband went to Peru to fulfill a longtime dream of climbing Machu Picchu high in the Andes Mountains.

Machu Picchu is perched high upon a rock in a narrow saddle between two sharp mountain peaks and overlooks the Urubamba River. This imposing city is one of the largest pre-Columbian sites found virtually intact. Machu Picchu spreads over five square miles with over 3,000 steps linking its many different levels. It shows an astonishing architectural design and execution, including a terracing system built on extremely steep terrain.

“We wanted to see Machu Picchu before we got too old because it’s a very difficult climb,” said Boyce. “We spent four hours walking up stone steps chiseled in the mountain with no railings 12,000 feet high in the Andes. It’s dangerous and a guide takes you up very carefully and slowly.”

Asked what she saw on the trip up, Boyce laughed and said, “My feet.”

“I’m clumsy so I had to watch my step,” she said. “But when we stopped at various plateaus along the way we could look down into the Valley of the Incas and a river where we went white water rafting.”

Boyce, 61, is well traveled, having visited Costa Rica, Europe, and Egypt after teaching about those places in her elementary classroom for many years. She retired in 2001.

“It helped that my husband and I walk an hour a day because there’s lots of walking to do on these tours,” she said.

But for Jo Ann Evans, who calls herself a “typical housewife,” the sudden leap into adventure travel came as quite a surprise.

“After I retired, I just assumed that I would lead a quiet life,” she said. “But my husband had always wanted to go to the Mount Everest base camp to see what it was like.”

That’s how she found herself 7,000 miles from home on a two-hour trek from the Rongbuk Monastery in Nepal to the base of the highest peak on earth.

“We flew out of Portland on the Friday after 9/11, on the first flight after the terrorist attacks,” she said. “It was quite an experience and I discovered that I like adventure.”

Nighttime on Kilimanjaro

At 19,340 feet—nearly four miles—Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania is Africa ’s highest point. This extinct volcano presented one of Evans’ greatest challenges. Last year, she and a group of younger teacher friends made the seven-day journey to the summit.

One reason Evans wanted to make the trip was that scientists estimate that the glacier atop Kilimanjaro will melt by 2020 because of global warming.

“I wanted to see it before it disappeared,” Evans said. “I didn’t realize that Mt. Kilimanjaro was climbable for someone like me, but I decided that this is something I could do even though I was the oldest in the group and the youngest was 28.”

The most challenging portion of the trip was the final trek to the top. The group started the final ascent at 10:30 p.m. with the goal of reaching the top by sunrise.

“We turned on our headlamps and traveled all night long,” she recalled. “It was pretty grueling. We climbed over and around giant boulders in the dark. Seven of us, including me, made it up to the summit. Five others had to turn back.”

Her most recent trip was to England, but not the usual tour of London. Evans and her husband walked all the way across the North of England from St. Bees to Robin Hood’s Bay, on the North Sea coast.

Rated “challenging” by the Ramblers’ Association, a British non-profit whose mission is to to promote hiking, the trip links the Irish Sea and the North Sea via the hills, moors, and valleys of northern England.

The route crosses three National Parks: the Lake District, Yorkshire Dales, and the North York Moors. It is scenic, but high-level, including some fairly demanding upland stretches, and visits only two towns of any real size, Kirkby Stephen and Richmond.

The Mists of England

Coast-to-coast, the walk stretched 190 miles through farmland, ancient Roman roads, down into the valleys and grasslands, through the moors and bogs, and around lakes.

“Our hike was closer to 220 miles because we got lost a few times,” Evans said. “But we never gave up and kept forging our way across. We met up with a man who had made the hike the previous year and he helped us.”

The couple traveled by day and slept in bed and breakfasts along the way during the 14-day trip. Each day, a service delivered their baggage to the next B&B. 

“From time to time we came across fenced-in farmland, but we always found a ladder to get us over the fence,” she said. “Even today, there’s a public right of way that is respected by landowners.”

The pair navigated their journey using only a compass and ordinance survey maps that pictured landmarks such as an old quarry or a Roman ruin.

“Going across England, I imagined it like in Robin Hood’s days going through the forest and the fields and farmland,” she said.

They walked across moors and up mountains. Things got a little scary at times, and Evans wondered if they should have chosen an easier adventure. While many hiking and mountain trips in the United States have clearly defined trails with signs, in England you’re feeling your way across the countryside like an explorer visiting the site for the first time.

“In Oregon we have proper trails, but in England you are on your own,” she said. “The mist comes in and you can only see three feet ahead so things got a little hairy and I had second thoughts,” she added. “Remember the old fairy tales of meeting witches? It was black and creepy at times.”

Still, the couple managed to make their way. “A lot of it is mental, I just psyched myself up,” she said. “It helped that we were in shape from hiking Oregon trails together twice a week.”

What’s on Your Wish List?

“Many Americans are getting to an age when they say, ‘I have only so many years left. What have I always wanted to do? Where do I want to go? What’s on my wish list?” says Stephanie Nichols, a spokeswoman for Overseas Adventure Travel, a Boston-based travel agency that organizes tours for people over 50.

She finds Americans are much more interested in the world than they used to be, and they want to see the world beyond the usual tourist destinations.

Nichols said nearly a third of their customers are educators. “It’s a natural for them because they are interested in lifelong learning and curious about the world. That’s who they are,” she said.

January 2006

Exercises You Can Live With

Fitness Over Fifty: An Exercise Guide from the National Institute on Aging 134 pp.
Book |  DVD

If your pre-retirement days were spent negotiating miles of school corridors and stairs, coaching sports, or keeping pace with rambunctious kindergarteners, you may not have needed to give much thought to a daily exercise routine.

Now that your daily schedule may have taken on a more leisurely pace, it’s more important, say the experts at the National Institute on Aging (NIA), to make regular physical activity a part of your life. To jump start you, the NIA, in conjunction with Healthy Living Books and Hatherleigh Press, has produced Fitness over Fifty, an easy-to-follow guide to exercises you can do at home, without joining a gym or spending a considerable sum for the latest in fitness fashions.

Growing older doesn’t have to equate with losing strength or the ability to carry on with your favorite activities, say the authors. They recommend a fitness plan that touches four areas—endurance, strength, balance, and flexibility.

With this book in hand, you’ll have no excuses for a sedentary lifestyle—even if your home is a studio apartment in snowy, sub-zero Syracuse or hot, humid Houston. For most exercises all you’ll need is a chair, a pillow, a towel and a bit of floor space. For some, you might want to add hand and ankle weights from your local sporting goods store, but the book says milk jugs filled with sand or socks filled with beans work just as well.

Inside the book, you’ll find step-by-step instructions in large print for aging eyes. Photographs demonstrate precise body positions for everything from the biceps curl to a wrist stretch (try it after a few hours at your computer keyboard). 

Motivation, of course, is the key to staying fit so the book contains a chapter on “How to Keep Going.” It recommends some obvious motivators, such as getting an exercise buddy, listening to music or recorded books while you walk or jog and rewarding yourself when you reach a pre-determined goal. More unusual ideas include giving yourself physical activity homework assignments or thinking of your exercise sessions as appointments to mark on your calendar.

Interspersed throughout are anec-dotes in which seniors share how exer-cise keeps them healthier despite such challenges as Parkinson’s disease or the death of a spouse.

You’d expect to find a nutrition section in any fitness book and this one is no exception. There’s advice on a balanced diet and a warning about spending hard-earned retirement savings on supplements that promise a return to youthful energy.

The appendix is full of templates you can use to set up a weekly schedule and keep a record of your exercises. There’s also a chart suggesting how much exercise you should do each week.

If you’re already running marathons or even 10K’s, this book isn’t for you. But, if your motivation waxes and wanes and your walking pace often falls far short of brisk, you might want to keep a copy on your coffee table. It could be all the inspiration you need for a vigorous retirement.

—Mary Anne Hess

Short Takes

Consumer Reports says, Make It Real

Perhaps the important feature of the fitness book we’re reviewing this month is that it’s practical. No more New Year’s resolutions that get abandoned by February because they were too hard to carry out.

To go along with that, here are some practical tips from Consumer Reports.

Their survey of nearly 22,000 readers found that the single most effective strategy that successful exercisers use to keep themselves doing it is to pick the same time of day: make it routine.

The number two strategy is to exercise near home or work: make it easy.

After that came exercising outdoors, joining a health club, and exercising with friends or family.

Consumer Reports says you should “aim to exercise for at least 150 minutes a week, preferably over at least five days, at a level that’s at least moderately intense” in order to reap the health benefits of exercising. Those benefits include a lower risk of heart disease, diabetes, osteoporosis, stroke, and high blood pressure.

If you want to lose weight, though, you’ll need to exercise twice as much.

January 2006

A ‘Reform’ That Isn’t

I love serving as a leader of NEA-Retired because I get to work with people all over who share the values of public education.

We NEA members disagree about many things, but by and large, we believe in working for the common good. The institution we built and served has as its foundation the idea that we need to take care of all people, not just the smart or the rich.

America  is lucky to have public education, and lucky to have us. You care about the “we,” not just the “me.”

Unfortunately, many in Washington do not believe in public programs that exist to serve everyone. The latest attack is moving through Congress right now under the false name of “pension reform.” The word “reform” means change for the better. This is change for the worse. This bill would weaken traditional defined benefit pension plans and lead to their conversion to defined contribution.

With a defined benefit retirement plan, you know what you’ll get when you retire. The benefit is defined and it is guaranteed for life. In defined contribution, you know how much is going into your fund, but how much you’ll get out depends on your luck in the stock market.

The people pushing these plans are not doing it just out of ideology. Their purpose is to spend less on retirees.

The legislation I mentioned earlier deals with private sector pension plans, but if successful, the same politicians will go after our public plans. There is already activity afoot all across the country to get rid of our public defined benefit plans.

We all need to get involved on this. Here's the latest information and easy ways to contact your members of Congress. In politics, age is powerful because people of our generation vote a lot more than younger people. Politicians worry more about you than about some fresh-faced new teacher straight out of college. Let’s do our part.

—Barbara Matteson
matteson@dakotacom.net

January 2006

Lois Clark

Background
I’ve taught high school biology and physiology in St. Louis for 23 years. I’m a local Association president. I’ve also been our local treasurer, and I served on the Missouri NEA state Board of Directors.

Why did you get active as an NEA Pre-Retired member?
My parents taught me early on that if I don’t get involved, I have no right to complain. I believe that, which is why I’m working as a local president now. But there’s always a new issue coming up that has to be addressed if we want to maintain and strengthen public education. In my state, public education budgets are always an issue. We’ve had to fight proposals for school vouchers recently. I’m devoted to public education, so I’ll keep taking my parents’ advice and stay involved after I retire.

Deloise Jones

Background
I taught kindergarten in the Jackson, Mississippi public schools for 25 years. I served as president and treasurer of my local Association.

How are you spending retirement?
I have an elderly mother, and I’m fortunate to have  time to care for her. But I stay active in NEA-Retired because there are too many important issues out there and I’m a born activist. I like doing political and legislative work, and am especially interested in reforming the current system in which testing is the measure of everything. I was an economics major, so I know that you can twist test statistics to have them tell you whatever you want. That’s not fair to kids. I also volunteer every day with an after-school tutorial program. I enjoy that, because I know I’m able to reach a lot of children.

Chuck Custis

Background
I was a middle school teacher and counselor in Sheridan, Wyoming for 25 years.

What do you like best about retirement?
I was born across the street from the school where I worked, and now I just live six miles away, so I’m not one to change my habits much. I love working as a volunteer lobbyist for NEA-Retired. I wouldn’t want to be a politician, but I like telling them what to do. Wyoming was once comparatively poor, but they struck methane gas a few years ago, and now the state has money. I like making sure it goes to public education. Right now, they’re building three new schools in Sheridan. There are still important decisions to be made. I have seven grandchildren, so I know the state has to balance spending now and socking money away for the future.

January 2006

Doctor’s Office Tips

What to say, what to ask, how to behave

Research says patients who have good relationships with their doctors tend to be more satisfied with their care—and get better results. We’ve adapted these tips from a publication of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services to help you get good health care.

How do You Find a Good Doctor for your Condition?

• Ask your doctor which doctor he or she would use personally if they had your condition.
• Ask a trusted friend or relative or someone you know.
• Search the Web for support groups, often email-based, with information about your condition.
• If you are unsure about your doctor’s proposed treatment, get a second opinion.

Give Information. Don’t Wait to Be Asked.

• You know important things about your symptoms and your health history. Tell your doctor what you think he or she needs to know.
• It is important to tell your doctor personal information—even if it makes you feel embarrassed or uncomfortable.
• Bring a “health history” list with you, and keep it up to date. You might want to make a copy of the form for each member of your family.
• Bring any medicines you are taking, or a list of those medicines (include when and how often you take them) and what strength. Talk about any allergies or drug reactions you have had.
• Bring other medical information, such as x-ray films, test results, and medical records.

Get Information.

• Ask questions. If you don’t, your doctor may think you understand everything that was said.
• Write down your questions before your visit. List the most important ones first to make sure they get asked and answered.
• Consider bringing someone along to help you ask questions and understand the answers.
• Take notes.
• Some doctors do not mind if you bring a tape recorder to help you remember things. But always ask first.
• Let your doctor know if you need more time.

Take Information Home.

• Ask for written instructions.
• Ask for samples of prescription drugs.
• Your doctor also may have brochures and audio tapes and videotapes that can help you. If not, ask how you can get such materials.

Once You Leave the Doctor’s Office, Follow Up.

• If you have questions, call.
• If your symptoms get worse, or if you have problems with your medicine, call.
• If you had tests and do not hear from your doctor, call for your test results.
• If your doctor said you need to have certain tests, make appointments at the lab or other offices to get them done.
• If your doctor said you should see a specialist, make an appointment.

—Doug Terwilliger , NEA Member Benefits

For More

Ask Consumer Reports About “Best Buy” Drugs

Consumers Union, publisher of Consumer Reports magazine, has a Web site—www.CRBestBuyDrugs.org  that acompares a variety of prescription drugs on price, effectiveness and safety to help you and your doctor choose the most effective and affordable medicines. 

Their information on drug effectiveness comes from the Drug Effectiveness Review Project (DERP), which uses teams of physicians and researchers at the Oregon Health and Science University Evidence-Based Practice Center.

The Consumer Reports Best Buy Drugs project works with doctors’, pharmacists’, and nurses’ groups as well as organizations representing seniors, community groups, labor unions, employers, and insurance companies to educate consumers about how they can get better value for their prescription drug dollar. The NEA along with the AFL-CIO, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the Alliance for Retired Americans, and consumer advocacy groups have partnered with Consumers Union to provide this information to members.

January 2006

Turning a Child’s Heartache into Hope

After a decade conversing with powerful politicians as an Arizona state representative, Marion Pickens is finding that her most rewarding relationships are with friends generations younger.

Pickens, who was an educator in Tucson for 23 years before stepping into the legislature, now volunteers as a court-appointed special advocate (CASA), offering hope and friendship to children desperate for a stable family.

“This is something I jumped into when I got out of the legislature,” Pickens said. “It has really given me a chance to open my eyes to what is being done for children and what is being done for families.”

As a CASA volunteer, Pickens said her main role is to be “the voice of the child.” She researches all records related to a case and stays in contact with the families so she can recommend to the judge what would be the best outcome. Sometimes, this can be as simple as spending time with the child and asking, “What do you want?” During the trial Pickens develops a bond with each child as she comes to under-stand their lives and looks for ways to turn heartache into love and support.

After three years, Pickens has seen both tragedy and joy. She has fought for a young girl battling her mother’s drug abuse and rejoiced when the girl was placed in a safe home. she has also fought for those who aren’t so lucky and continues to help them search for a secure environment.

Pickens said she is passionate about helping individuals, but also enjoyed working with groups of children in a classroom.

“There were always challenges, it was never easy,” Pickens said. “Every day there were problems to be solved, and I liked that.”

While working as an elementary school teacher, Pickens served as president of the Tucson Education Association and vice president of the Arizona Education Association.

As she began to consider retirement, friends and co-workers persuaded her to take her activism to a new level and run for the legislative. She was elected in 1990, but found it was tough going, fighting for her principles. “Sometimes it was discouraging,” Pickens said. “Sometimes we succeeded and could celebrate, but it was always challenging.”

Pickens received many awards recognizing her support for children and families, including the Arizona Friend of Families award in 2002. “I think [the community] found a legislator who was really interested in people and really appreciated any effort to ensure that peoples’ rights were being upheld,” Pickens said.

When she reached her term limit in 2002, Pickens returned home to the community in which she had once been fully immersed.

“Immediately when I came back, having been a teacher and a legislator, every one wants a piece of you,” she said. “I had to be very careful that I didn’t spread myself too thin.”

In addition to volunteering as a court advocate, Pickens became active in identifying and recruiting other women to elected office. She has been involved in the League of Women Voters, the American Association of University Women as well as the Arizona Women’s Political Caucus.

Although Pickens said her husband wishes she stayed home more, she has different plans for the future. “I just can’t believe that there would be anything else more important than getting out in the community,” she said.  “I think I’m good for several more years.”

—Mary Robbins

For More

CASA Volunteers

Court-appointed special advocate (CASA) volunteers speak for child victims of abuse and neglect.

Judges appoint volunteers to represent children who are the subject of an abuse or neglect proceeding. The volunteer gets to know the child, parents, foster parents and other import-ant parties, and then makes recommendations to the court as to the child’s best interests.

Being a CASA volunteer is a long-term commitment. Volunteers are assigned to a case for a full year and may be the only stable person in the child’s life.

To become a volunteer you have to undergo training to learn about foster care, abuse and neglect, your state's laws, HIV, education and poverty.

For more information, visit nationalcasa.org  and www.casanet.org .

Adapted from  www.ehow.com/how_12693_become-court-appointed.html .