This Sunday there is a bit of a twist from my usual Sunday heroes.
The idea of continuing to work after retirement is an issue that some of us already have or will have to deal with. However, the idea of working after age ninety is most likely something that few, if any of us, will have to deal with.
Robert “Bob” Rohloff of Appleton, Wisconsin, has been barbering for 75 years, and this year, at the age of 91, he’s fulfilled a bucket list dream by opening his very own barber shop.
Mr. Rohloff says knowing the trade is one thing, but personality is 90 percent of the business. “You have to be a people person,” he told The Epoch Times. “You’ve got to be a good visitor, a good listener, and a good person, and that’s the main thing. My dad was that way, and I grew up that way.”
Mr. Rohloff started his barbering apprenticeship in 1948 as a junior in high school. He attended vocational school every Monday and cut hair in front of a barber board on Thursday nights. Three years later, at the age of 19, he achieved his barbering license.
Mr. Rohloff knows he cannot work forever. But in the meantime, the nonagenarian firmly believes that staying occupied is vital.
“I have so many of my friends that have died, retired being in front of the TV. They don’t last long,” Mr. Rohloff said. “I look at retirement as being able to do what I want to do, but I don’t look at it as quitting working, and I don’t think people should. I think they should work as long as they can.”
Certainly Bob Rohloff is a unique individual, and his philosophy is one that should be admired by many … oops, except by me as I retired at 62y/o!
11/5/23