A More Fulfilling Retirement

Anita Morrison mentors women in prison through a ministry at Northside Christian Church.
Photo: Melissa Donald

Anita Morrison of New Albany, Ind., worked for 49 years. She spent the last 37 of those years at American Commercial, which suddenly downsized and from which she found herself abruptly retired at the age of 66.

“I didn’t know what I would do with myself when I did retire. I was devoted to my work,” says Morrison, who had put off retirement for fear of how she would support herself and what she would do with her time.

“You don’t wake up one morning and think, ‘I will go talk to people in jail when I retire,’” she says, but that’s exactly what she did.

A Different Way to Retire

Volunteering in the community
Don Parkinson retired as the senior vice president and chief franchise officer of KFC in 2000 at the age of 57. In that same year, Parkinson and his wife, Libby, had a house built in Naples, Fla., where they had planned to live out their retirement.

“I thought building a house in Florida was what I was supposed to do,” Parkinson says. However, the couple quickly learned that the Florida retirement plan wasn’t for them.