The Connecticut Elder Law Blog

Time to Dust off the Fedora!

This is a brief, light-hearted, weekend tribute to one of the most inspiring seniors out there.  Harrison Ford is set to re-establish himself as one of America's foremost action-heroes in his role as Indiana Jones despite the fact that he is on the verge of becoming eligible for Social Security benefits.  In fact, if he could be receiving them right now if had elected for early benefits (I'm assuming he didn't). 

I loved the original Indiana Jones movies when I was a kid (well, the last two were so-so) and I'm looking forward to watching Indiana take his bullwhip to the cold-war Soviets in Indiana Jones and the Kindgom of the Crystal Skull when it comes out in a couple of weeks.  I just hope that Indy has beefed up on his calcium intake over the last 17 years! 

75 Year-Old Blows the Doors Off Younger Runners

Most of my clients know that I'm an avid distance runner who has been relatively competitive for nearly 20 years.  So I'm inspired when a runner who is old enough to be one of my Medicaid planning clients is running marathons nearly as fast as I am! 

Canadian Ed Whitlock is 75 years old and he smashed the world record for the fastest marathon in his age category by running the 26.2-mile distance in 3 hours and 8 minutes at the Toronto Waterfront Marathon back in September.  Just to put this in perspective, I am 34 years old and I trained pretty seriously for the Boston Marathon last month and I ended up finishing in 3 hours and 4 minutes.  Ed would have been practically breathing down my neck despite the fact that he's over 40 years older than I am!

If I ever meet Ed I plan to ask him one question...how in the world does he keep his knees intact?

A Life-Long Learner

When 95-year-old Nola Ochs graduates from college later this month from Fort Hays State Univeristy in Kansas, she will be the world's oldest college graduate according to the Guinness Book of World Records.  Nola started taking college classes after her husband died in 1972.  She has been taking classes here and there over the years, but her decades-long quest for an undergraduate degree has finally ended. 

By the way, Nola's 21-year-old granddaughter, Alexandra Ochs, will have the pleasure of graduating with her.  I think it's safe to say that the Ochs clan is going to have a rather enjoyable graduation party afterwards!

Read more about this remarkable senior at Yahoo/AP.

A Very Inspiring "Elder" Attorney

When you work with a lot of elderly clients like I do, you really appreciate articles like this one about 100-year old Attorney Robert Bird of Salt Lake City, Utah.  I'll have to re-think my retirement plan.