Blog: Inspiring Seniors

Robert acknowledges that our society is full of agism, but he’s constantly going against the norm. “At 60, I’m more fit than most men half my age.”

“I was scared to death of retirement,” says Leonard. “I had to talk to retired friends just to get up the nerve to pull the plug. They basically said I have nothing to worry about. There’s all sorts of things lined up to keep life interesting."

At the age of 78, Joan published her first book, and at 79, she is hiking the 58 national parks with her husband – they’ve just completed #35. Did we mention she’s on track to reach her goal of walking 1,000 miles for the year? And at the age of 80, Allen, a self-proclaimed “Jollytologist,” is writing his 27th book. Allen shows us that humor can be used to gain perspective and to cope – even in the most tragic of times. These are their stories.

“It was hard,” she said. “The black belt test spanned two days.” She trained almost every day for a few months just to be ready for that test. “Frankly, that level of intense training wasn’t great for my body, so after I got my black belt, I dropped back to a more reasonable level of training.”

At the age of 61, Sandra started a completely new career as a lifestyle model and actress in New York City – after losing 50 pounds. And at the age of 63, Mickie started a new business, and just a year later, she married her long lost love – a man she lost touch with for over 50 years.