Page 87 - Mind Games The Aging Brain and How to Keep it Healthy

Teach Your Brain Agility • 71

Photo courtesy of Winfield Leitzer

Older and Wiser

Bob Gifford, D.Ed., 79, was recruited into a volunteer pro-
gram after retiring from 27 years with the county school system.
He joined a group of enterprising people who helped other se-
niors prepare their income-tax returns in a program jointly
sponsored by the American Association of Retired Persons
(AARP) and the local Department of Aging. Eventually, Bob be-
came the countywide coordinator of the program. He was busy
recruiting volunteers, training them, managing paperwork, and
reporting to the sponsoring organizations. Bob says that he
found the work as challenging as his assignments in the work-
force. The frequent changes in tax laws and the unique tax-
related situations of many of the seniors kept him learning
new things.
Bob spends the rest of the year working on other community
projects. So much so that the local elementary school created a
fitness trail and dedicated it in the names of Bob and his wife
Rita. Now to keep up with two active grandchildren who live
several states away, Bob is learning to use a computer. He quips,
“Surely e-mail is only the tip of our learning curve as we get ac-
quainted with the full potential of cyberspace.”