When I was training for my first marathon in 1999, it had never occurred to me to run a race in my lifetime. I joked, ‘The only time you’d see me run is if someone were chasing me!’
Nancy Lieberman, founder of the Go! St. Louis Marathon, came into KSDK to promote the marathon and asked if I would be interested. I had never run farther than a mile or two, and I mulled it over and decided to go for it.
What followed was training in St. Louis’ notorious hot weather, but it was worth it. I was in the best shape of my life. My running partner, Tara, and I suffered through training together. I had great days and days of struggle. At one point, my trainer Dan said something I will never forget: “Kelly, it’s never too late to surprise yourself.”
That quote has since gotten a lot of mileage, and I’ve share it with people when they hit one of life’s roadblocks. It made me think how people, particularly of a certain age, continue to re-invent, pivot, and create a second, third or even fourth act in life.
Take my dad, for instance. He worked as an executive at a manufacturing company for more than three decades and was well respected. He developed a brain tumor, had successful surgery, and eventually retired. That was not the end chapter of Herb Jackson’s life. He loved cars and started selling cars. Then he became a mentor for elementary school kids, ran successfully for school board and was eventually elected board president. My dad kept remarkably busy and fulfilled in his second act.
How many people switch gears after retirement? According to AARP research, two-thirds of older workers are interested in additional job/skills training, and the same amount have take up some type of training since 2020. They don’t want to stop working, and in fact want to do something out of their comfort zone.
Someone else who influenced my life is former KSDK colleague, broadcast legend, and good friend Karen Foss. After leaving KSDK in 2006, Foss started a new career at Ameren Missouri. She eventually retired as executive vice president of communications and moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico. Foss said, “It felt like I was at ‘recess.’”
“For years after retiring I kept thinking, surely, I’m supposed to be ‘somewhere,’ doing something for someone else,” she said.
It is interesting how society perceives people who reach retirement age. Foss was in a perfect place to expand on her natural abilities as an artist.
“I think we, especially older women, become invisible to society at large, dismissed as irrelevant,” she said. “That invisibility can be a blessing. You can accomplish a lot when you are moving under the radar.”
These days, Foss has a new title: artist.
Last month, she successfully displayed her artwork at the Duane Reed Gallery in St. Louis. It was her first show, and I am confident there will be more.
“I read that a satisfying life requires three things: pride, purpose, and pleasure. I think that is a worthy goal at all stages of life,” she said.
Then there is Kalen McCallister. After a career in science, she became ordained as a Buddhist Chaplain. McCallister retired in 2015 from the Farmington Correctional Center at 65. Retirement was not for her, and six months later, she opened Laughing Bear Bakery. McCallister wanted to employ people who had been incarcerated. Of her past 32 employees, only two have returned to prison.
McCallister says, “Just follow your heart and be open to change.”
She will soon be 70-years-old.
It is October 1999, and I’m in the last six miles of a rainy, hilly, and chilly St. Louis marathon. You can hear the water sloshing in my shoes. Tara and I realize sweet victory is near.
Paul Gallant with the Go! St. Louis Marathon was taxed with running us to the finish line. He will forever be our angel as he gave us pep talks the rest of the way. Paul was 65-years-old at the time.
Kelly Jackson anchors the news on KSDK, Five on Your Side, co-hosts “McGraw Live” on The Big 550 KTRS, and hosts and produces the web series “How My Pet Lives.”
