Retirement

STANFORD - Pat Rice looked forward to his retirement for years, but once he finally retired, he found his golden years to be made out of tin. "I had spent 30-plus years working in a factory and was anxious to enjoy an easier lifestyle," said Rice. "But I found retirement was not all it was cracked up to be. " The main thing he missed about work was that it kept him busy and it provided him structure, not to mention some income and benefits beyond what he was getting in retirement pay. So about three years ago, he applied for a job with Stanford's Department of Public Works and today serves as its director.

Editor's note: This is the second of a four-part series that looks at the impact of retirement not only on baby boomers but also businesses, industries and schools. Nancy Logue drew the the attention of Kmart shoppers for more than a quarter of a century. She was a fixture at the Danville store, working in almost all of its departments, including men's wear, women's wear and home fashions. But earlier this month, the 62-year-old Harrodsburg woman hung up her Kmart name tag with a job-well-done sense of pride.

HARRODSBURG - The Rev. Robert DeFoor told his Harrodsburg Baptist Church congregation in February that he planned to retire from the ministry in July and that time has come. Bob and Sandy DeFoor have been in Harrodsburg for almost 29 years and will continue to live here. He has had two people educate him on what to do after retirement. One was a retired minister in the church in Atlanta where DeFoor was the minister before coming here. The other is someone closer to home: his wife.

As a crowd of well-wishers gathered around her in the Boyle Circuit Courtroom, Beth Brown recounted how she came to work in the courthouse three months after graduating high school and never left - until Friday. That took her from age 18 to age 49 and marked the end of a 31-year career in circuit court clerk's office. When asked what she planned to do in her retirement, Brown quickly answered, "Enjoy my life. " Not that Brown hasn't taken pleasure from her job. It began as a temporary position working in the office that issues driver's licenses and evolved into a full-time deputy clerk's position, first in district court, then in circuit court.

Henry Walker says he didn't have a choice when it came to taking a job at Kroger when he was 17 years old. His mother, who worked at the home of Richard Morris, Kroger manager at the time, made him take it. "She didn't give me a second choice," he said. He did choose, however, to stick with Kroger for 44 years until his recent retirement, something he was not expecting when he took the job. "My intentions were to work while I was in high school," he said, adding he decided to continue working instead of attend college after his wife, Betty, became pregnant with their first child.

PERRYVILLE - It didn't matter to Betty Montgomery that she's had to commute every day from Garrard County to Perryville Elementary School for the past decade. It didn't matter because as principal of PES, she felt she "was meant to be here. " Montgomery said she never really thought about herself in a principal position while an educator in Garrard County's school district. "I never had any aspiration at all to become a principal," she added. "(PES) seemed like a right fit. " She spent 241/2 years in a classroom before taking the principal position at PES. She taught at Camp Dick Elementary School for five and a half years, then spent the other 19 years at Lancaster Elementary School.

Most people Basil Turbyfill's age are trying to enjoy the fruits of a life of labor. And Turbyfill had been doing just that since 2000 when he retired from a career in furniture manufacturing. However, in recent weeks he's been keeping a schedule that hardly sounds like that of a retiree. Every weekday morning he's been leaving his Danville home for Frankfort no later than 6 a.m. and has been returning no sooner than 10 p.m. Some retirement. But Turbyfill insists he doesn't mind a mile of his daily trip or a minute of his daily doings in Kentucky's capital city.

When Charles Hamblin , 78, of Danville retired from American Greetings he learned how to carve birds from wood. In 2002, his new talent was featured on an Advocate Sunday page. Now his work is getting wider coverage. Hamblin is one of the people interviewed by author Pat Kellerman for "Re-inventing Life after 60. " Kellerman focused on what 40 people from across the country are doing after retiring. Hamblin said the author learned about him through the story done by Advocate Feature Editor Emily Toadvine.

On Monday there was cake. On Tuesday, ham and biscuits. And for the last two weeks, the Clark County Public Schools Central Office has seen a steady stream of phone calls and visitors, at least three lunches out, flowers, homegrown vegetables, freshly-baked bread and peanut butter fudge. This isn't your average retirement celebration - and for good reason. Secretary Virginia Castle retired from Clark County Public Schools this week after a whopping 45 years of service in the same job, a job that she started right out of high school.

To enjoy a comfortable retirement lifestyle, you’ll need to have adequate financial resources in place. And that means you must plan for the expected, but prepare for the unexpected. In planning for the “expected” aspects of your retirement, consider these factors: Your vision of your retirement lifestyle — What do you want to do during your retirement years? Spend more time with your family? Volunteer? Open your own business? Your expectations of your retirement lifestyle will dictate, to a large extent, your savings and investment strategies.