Columbus Retirees Give Back to the Community
community, recreation, retirement,
Whoever said retirement is the twilight of life probably didn’t spend much time in Columbus.
Seniors in the Mississippi town of 26,000 are a lively bunch, touring local attractions, taking classes on everything from bird watching to the Civil War and dancing the nights away at socials especially for them.
Columbus has been a certified Hometown Mississippi Retirement Community for nearly 20 years. Officials work to improve the quality of life for retirees living in the area and attract new newly retired seniors looking to relocate.
Retirees are prime candidates for entrepreneurship, often starting their own businesses and hiring employees from the local workforce. They also tend to attract tourists – their children and grandchildren.
“That’s all adding to the economy of Columbus,” says Maureen Lipscomb, director of the Hometown Mississippi Retirement Program in Columbus. “It’s an economic development tool, it’s a tourism tool, it’s a quality of life tool.”
Retirees are drawn to Columbus’ historic charm, progressive medical facilities and low crime rate, Lipscomb says. And once they get to town, they stay busy. Festivals, fishing tournaments and concerts create a strong sense of community for longtime residents and newcomers alike.
“I just think that Columbus has that great, hometown feel,” she says.“The people are just so friendly.”
Columbus also places a high premium on lifelong learning, providing seniors with several options to expand their minds. Mississippi University for Women offers the Lifelong Learner Program, which allows students who are at least 65 years old to attend classes for free if space permits. The university is also preparing to launch a new program just for seniors in fall 2009 that will allow students to pay a flat fee and attend as many volunteer-taught classes as they want on topics as diverse as film and current events.
“This is just people of like interests and similar ages getting together and sharing a common interest,” says Barbara Moore, director of continuing education at MUW.
There will be no tests and no homework, and Moore says she believes the classes will be as beneficial for the teachers as they will be for the students.
“There’s nothing really similar to it in the community, and it gives people a chance to expand what they do in their lives and to offer courses in things that they’re not necessarily noted for,” she says.
Teaching volunteer courses is a popular way for retirees to stay active and give back to the community.
At Trinity Place Retirement Center, which offers activities for residents and other seniors in the community, retired professionals are encouraged to offer seminars in what they know: a former health care professional, for example, giving a lecture on how to have a good visit with your doctor.
“Retirement is a wonderful time, and it gets better if you know what to do with it,” says Gerald Scallions, program director for Trinity Place and a retired school principal. “We encourage people to share the skills they have.”
Beyond flexing the mind, retirees have abundant opportunities to flex their muscles in Columbus. Trinity Place offers exercise classes five times a week, and the Downtown YMCA offers classes in yoga and spinning.
Scallions says retirement is about preserving all aspects of your mind and body in a balanced way. He invokes Ralph Waldo Emerson to sum up what he tells the residents of Trinity Place: “This time, like all times, is a good one if we but know what to do with it,” he says.
Or in the modern vernacular, “Don’t sit down too early – that’s my motto,” he says.“That’s what I tell them.”
Story by Michaela Jackson
