encore performances #5...

encore performances #5... 

 A large part of my second Encore Performance is talking to other people to find out what keeps them interested in life after retirement and then document those findings.  This is the fifth post featuring some of those interviews which were conducted last May.  

  Interviewing people has been a lifelong passion originating in my earliest broadcast days and lasting all 36 years while in that field.  

  Following a broadcast career, teaching was my first Encore Performance and it provided a 17 year hiatus from participating in active broadcast experiences.  However, writing this blog has afforded me the opportunity to set new goals and interviewing interesting people is at the top of that list. 

  After a certain age, most of us want to remain relevant and functional in an increasingly changing world.  One example of constant turnover is music.  Some of us find it demanding to keep abreast of current groups and singers, while still others would do quite well on a quiz show with Today's Music as a featured category. 

  Like the previous interviews prior to Covid-19, this latest group of POS was consistent in attitude with their predecessors.  That is, they were upbeat, positive, and excited about their new significance.    

  Here are three more exciting Encore Performances beginning with 85 year old, Art Davis.  All three guests reside in Louisville, Kentucky.

  Mr. Davis is outgoing, vocal, and energetic.  He talks as though he has a plane to catch, or if he doesn't hurry to tell you what he has to say, something will have happened and he would have missed it.  People like Mr. Davis have almost always proven to be interesting or boring people.  Mr. Davis is the former. 

  Where does it all begin for you, Mr. Davis?

  Well, I suppose it all starts with me going into the navy in '52 and getting out in '56, he said.  

 

  That's pretty impressive.  You saw the world, then got your first real job. 

   That's exactly how it happened.  I landed a job with Boeing and they sent me to Wichita, Kansas, he replied.  I worked on the fire controls on B52s (American long-range, subsonic, jet-powered strategic bomber created by Boeing in 1946).  

  What happened in the next chapter?

  I left Boeing in 1960, he said, and moved to Orlando.  I went to work for the Martin Corporation where I worked on the Pershing Missile (a solid fueled state-of-the-art two stage ballistic missile) .

  You also found your life partner there.

  Sure did.  She's deceased now, but we had three kids, he relayed.  And, I've got five grandchildren.  

  After you married, you said it was time to change employers.

  In '68, I joined the Army Missile Command, but I still worked on the Pershing Missile, he replied. Then, in 1970, I left Army Missile and wound up at the Naval Ordinance Station here in Louisville where I retired 18 years ago.  

  What about your life now?  How do you spend your time?

  I am a lifelong Shriner, he proudly stated.  I do anything they need and I'll be with them until I die.  This is how I give back for the blessed life I've had.  

  Pam Kirsch is 66 and hasn't retired just yet.  She's not sure if she will ever stop working.

  I can't see it, she confessed.  I've been in Longterm-Care Management as a Business Manager for a long time and it's difficult to imagine calling it quits, so I just keep going.  

  What about your husband?  Does he work?

  Peter is a retired orthopedic surgeon, she said.  We've got six wonderful kids and eight grandchildren.  Our youngest son is in the navy.

  When you're not working and you have some time away from the daily rituals, how do you spend your time?

  We travel, she smiled.  It's such a feeling of freedom to jump on a plane and go someplace we've never been.

  Do you travel abroad or do you stay in the states?

  Both, she confided.  That's why we're so fortunate.  We've been to Japan, China, several countries in Europe, Costa Rica.

  What about here in America.  What is your favorite place or places?

  My husband and I both love the west, she confided.  California, Washington, Oregon, and Hawaii are probably our favorites.  We've been numerous times and love the picturesque scenery in each of those states.  

  So, what's next?  

  Who knows, Pam said. That's what keeps life such a mystery.  My husband will come home one day and say, Pack up, we're going to Texas tomorrow, or, I might say, Let's go to Maine this Fall.  Whatever we do, I'll be ready!

  But, what about your work?  

  I've been home since Covid, she replied.  As long as I've got my laptop, I've got my work.  

  UPS Delivery Service has a major hub at Louisville's airport.  It's a tremendously large piece of property that covers 1,500 acres and includes three runways.      

  The company  apparently does not want its management team to get used to doing the same thing for too long.  At least, Tim Lawson felt that way about his final employer.  

  I worked for UPS 24 years, Tim told me.  In that 24 year period, I held 12 different manager positions.

  So, they deliberately moved you every two years?

  They sure did and I really liked it, he admitted.  I was never bored, and if I wound up doing something I didn't like, I knew it was temporary. 

  Did you have a favorite job?

  I think my favorite when I think of all the things I did was Transportation Training, he confessed.  It was different every single day.  Literally, no two days were alike.  

  You are still young.  You're just 66 and you retired eight years ago.  What do you do in your spare time?

  Well, my wife Kathleen and I have three girls and we've got one grandson, he said.  When we aren't traveling or doing things for them, I play guitar.  

  How cool is that?  I've always wanted to play but my hand-eye coordination is impossible.  

  I've played since I was a teen, Tim said, so it's like a part of me.  I do it now for lots of reasons and chief among them is it makes me use my memory and math skills.  

 Ever dream about being in a successful band? 

  I used to, Tim admitted.  But, reality set in years ago.  

  Coming up:  meet a woman who traveled the world for B & W; meet more POS, and; meet a pole vaulter who set high school and collegiate records! 

  When I was talking with Tim about being in a band, I told him I thought he should rethink his decision and play a couple clubs.  He said, Think about what I told you.  I play for memory and math skills.  I don't think that's what a groupie wants to hear.

  We laughed.  

  HUH?  What's up with that?