Story by Jon Stalnaker AKA The Studebaker Dude
It’s been a while since I first retired. I remember visiting my Uncle Ted when I was a young lad of 16 back in the late 1960s. It was that time in a young man’s existence when he is trying to figure out what he is going to do for the rest of his life, and my mind was open to suggestions. Uncle Ted told me that I should get myself a government job; “they have good retirements,” he said. Well, at 16, retirement is so far into the future that it wasn’t anything that I had even considered. But his words stuck in my head, and as I grew closer to having to make that decision, his words were always there to guide me.
I had the luxury of 3 years, 8 months, and 9 days in the military, where I could make that decision. Now, while the military was indeed a government job, I never seriously considered it a career. I was hardcore TDY (Temporary Duty) from civilian life; besides, we were still fighting a war in Southeast Asia, and I didn’t want any part in that. At the 3-year point in my enlistment, I seriously considered what I wanted to do when I got out.
The Air Force trained me to be an avionics technician, and there were good government jobs near my home of record that I easily could have qualified for, but I really didn’t like that job, so it was not a serious consideration. My cousin was a mailman, and that appealed to me. Plus, it was a government job. That’s where I went and where I worked for around 36 years.
As I progressed in my postal employment, I found that I was not cut out to be a mailman for the rest of my career. The USPS was good for me as there were so many different jobs that I could (and did) do. I was never one to just do a job as instructed; I always wanted to do more, and that served me well. When I was getting close to retirement age, I again started wondering what I could do. Uncle Ted was right about the retirement; I was able to retire at age 55, which I did. However, I had developed a work ethic that made me the kind of guy who would not be happy just sitting on the couch watching TV after I retired.
In preparation for that day when I didn’t have a 40-hour-a-week job to keep me on my feet, I had to find something to do. A few years before my retirement, I bought an old Studebaker, thinking that I could fix it up. I’ve always been a car guy thanks to my dad, but unfortunately, he passed away before I retired. But I had on old car and a plan to get it fixed up to drive around before I retired. I heard about volunteer Docent positions at the Towe (later Sacramento) Auto Museum, not too far from where we lived. I signed up for the Docent class about a year and a half before I became a retiree. I got heavily involved in many things there, but it was VERY part-time.
I wanted to work a few more years and got a job at UC Davis in the mail room. I was still active at the museum, and we had an opportunity to take a docent trip to many of the awesome automobile-related treasures in LA. One of those stops was Jay Leno’s Big Dog Garage. Because I was a new employee at UC Davis, I didn’t have enough seniority to get the time off to go. But I wanted to see Jay Leno’s garage so badly that I quit the job at UC Davis. I was enjoying that job, but I didn’t need it and wasn’t going to give up an afternoon with Jay. As it turned out, Jay cancelled the tour and I quit that job for nothing. The Big Dog Garage is still on my bucket list.
After the docent trip, I decided to get another retirement job, and I was looking at the Readi-Ride driver job in my hometown. Being the postmaster in that community for the last 10 years, I was uniquely qualified and soon joined the ranks of bus drivers. I knew all the streets in town and was driving around town as good as the best of the others, and they were good. I did that job until my wife was able to retire and we have been true retirees since.
I must admit that I am a little restless and don’t like having nothing to do. I walked into our local newspaper office and asked the publisher if she was interested in someone to submit a weekly column. She was, and I wrote for that paper for 6 years before moving to Oklahoma. I have continued in Sapulpa after meeting Micah. I appreciate the opportunity to continue, as it is fun for me. It doesn’t take up that much of my time, so being the restless retiree that I am, I continue to get involved with other things.
I have to be careful, as I can easily get myself too involved with too many projects, and sometimes something has to go. That was pretty much the rule when I first retired, but I’m very sensitive to not getting myself in too deep. It has not been a problem for a long time.
I’ve been considering taking on a problem that I know of, and I think I can make a difference. I have thrown my hat in the ring as I believe this is a calling for me, but as I like to do, I have given this up to God to open or close the doors on this proposal. I don’t know what the future holds, but God does. I am willing to put myself out there, but if it does not come to be, I am fine with that, too. I just can’t sit still if I see something that could benefit from my skills and abilities. Someday, those skills will be gone. I don’t think that time has come yet. What say You, God? I AM getting older.
