TO RETIRE OR NOT TO RETIRE? FOR MANY ACTIVE OLDER WORKERS, THERE'S NO EASY ANSWER

Glenn Reeves, left, checked a client's design on a T-shirt with Karen Rodgers at Horizon Screen Printing which Reeves has operated since he retired from Sears, Roebuck and Co.

O.D. Niswonger showed an English walnut tree which he grafted onto a black walnut tree that a squirrel planted in his garden. Niswonger has kept busy with gardening since retiring as administrator at Southeast Missouri Hospital.

Retirement is not necessarily an end to work.

Workers about to retire seldom give a second thought to second careers, fantasizing instead about the golf they will play, the fish they will catch and the trips they will take.

But leisure isn't for everyone. Most new retirees do everything they had planned for years in a few months and start thinking of returning to the work force, at least part-time.

Retirement and relaxation lasted one day for Glenn Reeves, who retired from Sears, Roebuck & Co. on Dec. 31, 1986, after more than 33 years with the company. After taking New Year's Day off, the then-57-year-old Reeves started work Jan. 2, 1987, at Horizon Screen Printing, a business his wife Rhoda had founded six years earlier.

For Paul Allee, who spent more than 30 years in education, getting away from the 8-to-5 grind "was great." But Allee now puts in more than 40 hours a week buying and selling antiques in a business he and his wife Joretta have been involved in for more than 20 years.

When O.D. Niswonger left Southeast Missouri Hospital in 1991 after 30 years, 14 of them as administrator, he expanded on his favorite hobby, gardening, specializing in the growing of irises.

Retirement these days has a new motto: "Retire today, find a new job tomorrow."

Of 52.4 million Americans age 55 and over, 27 percent are retired and employed and 22 percent are retired and prefer to work but can't find jobs or are unable to work.

In a recent issue, Fortune Magazine says it is not teen-agers who are washing the Avis rental cars in Boca Raton, Fla. It's their granddads. Since 1985, the percentage of workers in the American Association of Retired Persons, which is open to anyone 50 or older, has climbed from 18 percent to 34 percent.

Continued work, however, isn't for everyone. Fifty-one percent of America's senior citizens (55 and over) are retired and prefer not to work.

Common sense, however, dictates that people should be working more years, not fewer.

When Social Security was created in 1935 to help retired workers and their families achieve a degree of economic security, people were dying in their early 60s. Today, life expectancy in the U.S. is 74.9 years. Many people are still working in their early to mid-70s and even older.

Post-retirement jobs are more fun, observe some management consultants. There is a loss of fear, and people don't worry about failing. Senior workers are freer to choose jobs that allow them to pass on the wisdom of their years, or to try something new.

Longitudinal studies by the U.S. Department of Labor have indicated that people who continue to work are healthier than their nonworking peers.

"Retirement is great," said Allee, who served 22 years as district supervisor for disability determination with the Missouri Department of Education.

"I retired at age 56 and have never been sorry," added Allee, now 62. "Although I still work as many hours, I set my own hours now. We travel a lot selling and buying antiques. I probably put in more hours but I'm enjoying it more."

The Allees have retail antique operations in a number of antique malls in Missouri, including operations at Centre Antique Mall in Cape Girardeau and in malls in the in malls in the Ozarks.

More weekends than not, the Allees display their wares at antiques and collectible markets throughout Central Missouri and Southern Illinois.

"Some people retire to fish and play golf," said Allee. "A friend of mine fished every day for six months after retiring before he decided he needed to do something else. He bought a small farm and is engaged in truck farming."

Reeves, who was born in a Sears, Roebuck house (Sears used to sell homes, ranging from small to large Colonial-style designs), worked in management positions 30 of his 33 years with the company. He had been manager of the Cape Girardeau Sears retail store for 13 years when he retired in December 1986.

"I'd been looking forward to retirement," said Reeves. "I was looking forward to canoeing, river floating and that type of thing."

Reeves had been working part-time with his wife in the Horizon Screen Printing business. Today, he is still working full-time in the family business.

The work is different, said Reeves, because Horizon deals primarily with corporations and companies.

Sixty-hour weeks are the norm for Reeves, who is an early morning person. "I get up from 3 to 5 a.m.," said Reeves, who is a believer in physical conditioning. "I do 75 push-ups and 100 sit-ups, then start my day. And as long as I can do that, I will continue to work."

Reeves, who is 65, is not looking forward to actual retirement.

He takes a dim view of people who sit on their duffs. "There is so much to learn out there," he said, adding that people should exercise their minds and their bodies.

The Reeves have a house on a lake, a canoe and a Jon-boat.

"We do allow some free time now for a little fishing and boating," he said. "I used to work seven days a week, but that's been narrowed to five days now.

Niswonger, who used his gardening as a "stress unit" from the hospital before retirement, has expanded his hobby into a blossoming "second career."

"I don't knock myself out with it, but I put in a lot of time with gardening," said Niswonger. "My main interest is genetics and breeding of new plants."

Niswonger has traveled extensively throughout the United States and abroad, sharing his vast knowledge gained through more than 40 years of hybridizing irises and other plants. He is world renowned for his iris work.

"Most people know about my irises," said Niswonger. "But I'm also in the process of developing daffodils and day lilies. And I'm interested in nut trees."

He has been experimenting with various types of nut trees, including hickory, black walnut and English walnut.

"It's much more than a hobby now," said Niswonger. "My busiest days start in the spring, but the activities don't stop with the growing season."

During the winter, Niswonger catches up on correspondence and articles about his experiments, and develops his annual iris catalog. His operation, called Cape Iris Gardens, ships and receives irises worldwide.

"I also correspond with people on new species," he said. "I've been working with people in Moscow concerning their new iris society for the past three years."

Niswonger is the president of the American Iris Society. There are about 160 iris clubs throughout the United States and in Canada that are affiliated with the society. Niswonger, a judge in the iris society, also teaches courses on judging and addresses groups on raising irises.

Niswonger does find time to take in some basketball games. "And I have an interest in genealogy when I can find time," he said.