pos #7...

e p 3 

  It has become another Encore Performance for me to talk to other people to find out what keeps them interested in life after retirement and then document those findings. It doesn't get any better than compiling their stories and interviewing interesting people.  Encore Performance is a term used by my former department chair to describe my leaving a broadcast career to begin anew as a teacher.   

  For most of us, it is a given that we must have outside interests to feel relevant, inspired and functional.  

  This is the third chapter in a series of stories about people who have put their career aside, or retired, and started their own Encore Performance.  

  This time around, HUH? What's up with that? talked with almost two dozen retirees and discovered most have adapted well to their new lifestyle.  All of their stories will be told in the coming weeks.  

  Like the previous interviews prior to Covid-19, this latest group of POS (people over 60) was upbeat, positive, and excited about their new significance.  Though sometimes wistful about the past, almost everyone was excited about their future.  Interestingly, out of 23 people, only a couple expressed a desire for a return to the good old days.  Here are just three of this group's stories.

  Just one person did not want her last name used.  We'll start off with her because her career and post retirement activity is rather unique.

  Jamie is a retired ice dancer.

  I performed for over 50 years before I retired seven years ago, she said.   

  Doing the math here, Jamie...you must've been in your 70s when you stopped?

  Yes.  75 to be exact.  I'm 82.  I didn't really quit, I just changed direction.   Now I give ice dancing lessons, she said proudly.  I wouldn't have retired from dancing, but I tore a meniscus in my left leg.

  What attracted you to ice dancing all those years ago?

  When I was a little girl, a neighbor friend of mine came over and asked me if I wanted to go ice skating, she reminisced.  It was something I had never done so I went with her and I've been on skates ever since.  

  What is ice dancing?  How do you define it?

  It's no different than ballroom dancing, she explained.  Except it's on ice.  The same technical language is used, same footwork, each is so close to the other.  

  In looking over your resume, you've had a lot of success over the years.  

  I call it fortunate to be in the right place and making the right choices, she recalled.  I've put on shows in Lake Placid and performed all over the United States.  I managed to win a national championship, too.

  When did that happen?

  Oh, a lot of years ago, she laughed.  

  How many students do you have now?

  There's always 10-12 around the ice, she said.  I give private lessons as well as group lessons.  

  Is giving ice dancing lessons much different than performing on ice?

  In a way, she said.  Sometimes the hardest thing for me is to remember how long it took me to learn certain moves and techniques.  I found out teaching takes patience.  

  When you aren't ice skating or giving ice dance lessons, how do you spend your spare time?

  I still play tennis, she responded.  I love the competition.  I just don't play as hard as I used to.  

  You have a son.  Does he ice skate?

  He didn't have a choice, she chuckled.

  Unlike Jamie, our next Encore Performance was not in the spotlight during his career.  

  Bruce Poppe (pronounced poppy) is a retired banker.

  I retired 16 years ago, he said.  Now, I do some volunteer work, but that's about it.  The rest is fun time.  

  What did you do when you were working for the bank?

  I was the guy everybody wanted to know.  My job was to go around and check out proposed business loans before the bank lent the money, he recalled.  

  So, you traveled a lot?

  I've been to every state in the union and most of them twice, he commented.  

  Give an example of the kind of loan we're talking about here.  

  Well, if the loan applied for wasn't north of two-million, I wasn't sent out, he proclaimed.  Every business you can think of  from cattle ranches to coal companies.  I was the guy who told the bank to give the money or not.  

  Besides volunteering, what else do you do for recreation?

  My wife and I have two sons and two grandkids, he said proudly.  The little ones are involved in sports and we go to all their games.  

  What do the grandkids call you? Poppy? 

  That's it, he said.  I'm Poppy Poppe.  

  Lon Moert is a retired Kentucky State Police Trooper and he is married to Nancy.

  I was a trooper for 31 years and I've been retired 18 years, he said.  

  But, you didn't really retire.  You began your Encore Performance almost immediately.  

  Yes, I did, he reflected.  It doesn't seem like it, but it's been 18 years since I left the state job and started working for a large company here in town (Louisville, Kentucky).  I am in charge of their security department.  

  You told me you recently experienced a tremendous loss.

  We lost a son to Covid.  He was 45.  He died a couple months ago, he said as he teared up. We got through it because of our other two sons.

  You are 73 and work a full-time, pressure job.  What do you do to relieve stress and get away?

  I love fishing, he said as he smiled.  I go to two places, Lake Placid, which is a small town in Florida, and Dale Hollow (a Kentucky lake).  

  Okay.  Let's hear a fish story.

  The biggest fish I ever caught was a 10.2 pound bass, he replied.  If I told you I caught a 25 pounder, would you believe me? 

  Sure. You'd have to know something about fishing to dispute it.  

  Well, there you go, he laughed.  

  Coming up:  You'll meet a former dancer who danced across America; learn a new language, and; find out what the uproar is all about because of micro plastics.

  By the way, what are the odds of two different people mentioning Lake Placid in the same story and they are two different places?

  HUH?  What's up with that?