Click to read more Resident Stories

Continuing Careers During Retirement

The definition of retirement has historically been “a departure from work;” however, a recent survey commissioned by Merrill Lynch showed that 71% of Americans say their ideal retirement includes work, and almost half do not plan to ever stop working completely.

This trend is certainly evident at Carol Woods, where a number of residents choose to continue working well into retirement.

“I’m happy in what I do, so I don’t feel like changing to do something else,” said Carol Woods resident Dan Okun, who was director of the environmental engineering department at UNC from 1955 to 1973 and continues to work at the University.

Okun has visited nearly 100 different countries to work on providing sustainable clean water for communities. He recently visited China for a week of work and spent some time in Cincinnati presenting a paper.

 “I’ve had fun all my life,” he said. “I’ve never thought of my work as being work.”

Curtis Jones shares Okun’s sentiment, but is also driven to continue working because of a vested interest in the field. Jones retired from the U.S. Department of State in 1975, but continues to work more than 40 hours per week.

“I am never going to retire,” he said. “My field has always been the Middle East and the Middle East keeps getting more active every year.”

Since moving to Carol Woods, Jones has written a book and teaches a class on the Middle East for the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Duke. He also sits on the Board of Directors of AmericanDiplomacy.org and is on the speakers list for the Triangle Institute for Security Studies.

“Carol Woods is an ideal base for my kind of operation because of the reservoir of expertise here,” Jones said. “[There are many] retired historians and political scientists.”

Barbara Clyde has also chosen Carol Woods as a base for work and leisure. Clyde has taught piano lessons since 1951, and still has two grand pianos in her home. She teaches lessons to about 20 students age six to 17.

“[I continue working] because I like doing it. I like it a lot,” Clyde said. “I like getting to know the families.”

Clyde has always preferred teaching children, and still takes great joy in watching them grow and develop.

Of course, not all Carol Woods residents continue to work in the same field they pursued before retiring. Some find that retirement is the ideal time to pursue a line of work that is much different from their previous professional lives.

For instance, when Ann Kendall retired from her job as an assistant district attorney, she took an art class at the Boston Museum of Art that rekindled a passion she had not pursued since high school. She now spends much of her time painting and heads the art committee at Carol Woods.

“I went to something called the High School of Music & Art in New York City (now LaGuardia High School of the Arts). That’s what really enriched my life at 15, ” Kendall said. “What was once a wonderful little thing in high school has become my thing in retirement.”

Kendall exhibits her paintings in the community and is one of six Carol Woods artists who were chosen as merit artists by Nasher Museum Senior Curator Sarah Schroth during last year’s Carol Woods Resident & Staff Art Show.

Janet Davis has also taken a lifelong hobby to new heights. She pilots a Cessna Skylane airplane and has flown friends from Carol Woods to places like Massachusetts and the Outer Banks.

“I own my own plane. I keep it out at Burlington,” said Davis, who logs between 100 and 150 hours of airtime per year. “I had an aunt who was one of the early women pilots.”

Davis says the thing she enjoys most about flying is the freedom it gives her.

In fact, freedom is one of the things many Carol Woods residents say they enjoy about retirement. For those who continue working, part of that freedom includes the ability to say yes when they want to say yes and no when they want to say no.

After more than 30 years as a faculty member in the Schools of Nursing at Duke and UNC, Carol Hogue continues to be offered research opportunities, but prefers to limit those activities so she can spend more time pursuing personal passions.  Hogue sits on the Steering Committee for the Post-doctoral Research Training Program of the UNC Institute on Aging and on the Advisory Board for the Trajectories of Aging and Care Center of the Duke School of Nursing. She is a consultant to an ongoing falls research project, and she is an editorial board ember of an on-line nursing research journal.

Despite this continued involvement in her career, Hogue said she enjoys taking a backseat in many professional activities in order to pursue hobbies and encourage the development of younger professionals in geriatrics and gerontology.

“I cherish the opportunities I have now to spend time with my 3 grandsons, design a new garden and continue cooking for family and friends since moving to Carol Woods.” Hogue said. “Fewer professional activities and a smaller and less demanding house also mean more time for reading and travel.”

Whether in the garden or at the desk, the line between work and play is often blurred. For many, that is the secret to a satisfying retirement.

Click to read more Resident Stories