People Who Achieved Success Late in Life

 It is old age rather than death that is to be contrasted with life.  Old age is a parody of life, whereas death transforms life into a destiny. In a way, death preserves life by giving it the absolute dimension--"As unto himself eternity changes him at last". Death does away with time.

The sun is shinning
merry go round at the park
granddaughter laughing


A twisted ankle
old man doing ballroom dance
no more cha cha cha


Alzheimer's disease
car waiting, angry horn blares
grocery list, lost


Sitting in the park
old couple watch the sun set
a pair of love birds


Old woman stares out
through a window,world looks in
children not coming


Pearly gates open
the old geezer bids his time
a mule, hems and haws

There is only one solution if old age is not to be an absurd parody of our former life,and that is to go on pursuing ends that give our existence meaning - Devotion to individuals, to groups or to causes,social, political, intellectual or creative work - One's life has value so long as one attributes value to the life of others, by means of love,friendship,indignation,compassion.. - Simone De Beauvoir, "The Coming of Age"

"One is never too old to succeed in life"

Grandma Moses (Anna Mary Robertson Moses)

Was a renowned American folk artist.Grandma Moses first came to public attention in 1940, at the age of 80. She began painting in her seventies after abandoning a career in embroidery because of arthritis. Her work is called primitive art, it has a simple and clear style...she had no formal training. She painted in a natural way,drawing from her memory and capturing American rural life

Grandma Moses viewed her art as something she enjoyed doing, not understanding why people paid such high prices for her pictures.Paintings which she first sold for about $5 later were sold for $8,000 to $10,000. In November 2006, her work "Sugaring Off", became her highest selling work at $1.2 million. Enjoying phenomenal success,she was honored by presidents and governors.Several books have been written about her. A "Grandma Moses Day was proclaimed in New York and she appeared on the cover of Time and Life magazines and on millions of greeting cards.. A U.S. commemorative stamp was issued in her honor in 1969.She lived to be 101 and in the last year of her life painted twenty-five pictures

QUOTES
"Painting's not important. The important thing is to keep busy"

"I look back on my life like a good day's work, it was done and I am satisfied with it.

"Life is what we make it, always has been, always will be"

"If I hadn't started painting, I would have raised chickens"

Harry Bernstein

By the time he was 24 he had published a short story in a magazine.That was in 1934. He would then face the rejection of more than 40 novels over seven decades before he achieved literary success again. At the age of 96, Harry Bernstein published his memoir "The Invisible Wall".He wrote the manuscript for the "Invisible wall" when he was 93 as a way to deal with his memories and the loneliness he felt after his wife of almost seven decades,Ruby passed away from leukemia in 2002.

Spending his nights alone thinking of her as well as his rough childhood,the book deals with the anti-semitic and bigotry his family suffered while he was growing up in a Lancashire mill town in north west England.The strength of his prose has often been compared to the works of D.H.Lawrence and Frank McCourt.He has published two more books.The Dream and The Golden Willow. he recently celebrated his 100th birthday on May30,2010 and is now working on a fourth book.

QUOTES
"I realized then why I had failed in writing novels,because I turned away from personal experience and depended on imagination"

"I indulged in the luxury of writing when I felt like it,just as when you are hungry you sit down and eat a meal"

"If I had not lived until I was 90, I would not have been able to write this book,God knows what other potentials lurk in other people,if we could only keep them alive well into their 90."

Nola(Hill) Ochs

On May 14,2007 became a Guinness World Record holder as the world's oldest college graduate.The 95-year old graduated from Fort Hays State University in Kansas 77 years after she first started taking classes.She earned a general studies degree with an emphasis in history,graduating alongside her grand daughter who was 21 years old at the time.

She always loved learning,but got a little sidetracked."I live on a farm.I was a mother,grandmother,great grandmother."I had plenty to do.But the yearning didn't go away.So after her husband died in 1972,she started taking correspondence course again. slowly plugging away at her Bachelors Degree.She then spent the last year in a dorm for non-traditional students working on her general studies degree.

QUOTES
"I came here with no thought of it being an unusual thing at all. It was something I wanted to do. It gave me a feeling of satisfaction."

"I plan to seek employment on a cruise ship going around the world as a storyteller"

"It's been the Lord's will that I've lived this long life,and I thank him kindly for it"

MAY 12,2010
Ninety-eight year old Nola Ochs will receive a master's degree from Fort Hays State University in Kansas on Saturday.
Ochs(Oaks) of Jetmore, set a short-live record in 2007 when she received her bachelor's degree. A 96-year old man in Taiwan broke the record last year.
Ochs says she intends to apply for a job as a graduate teaching assistant in Fort Hays' history department for next spring.

George Burns (Nathan Birnbaum)

Actor,comedian,writer. His career spanned almost the entire 20th century. At the dawn of recordings, movies and television,he was one of the pioneers who helped invent modern show business.

From vaudeville,he was able to make the transition to modern show business by keeping his act current with the times.Achieving legendary status,he could still get in there and mix it up. After the death of his beloved wife Gracie, he started appearing in movies again. He also did one-man shows to pack houses,getting better as he got older. He won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in Neil Simon's "The Sunshine Boys at the age of 79, the oldest recipient for that award(in this category)

Approaching his eighties, he decided to start putting his wit and wisdom down on the printed page. The man who barely finished the fourth grade ended up writing eight books - all of them best sellers including a marvelous tome of the love of his life, entitled Gracie: A Love Story.

QUOTES
"How beautifully leaves grow old. How full of light and color are their last days."

"I can remember when the air was clean and sex was dirty"

"I'd rather be a failure at something I love than a success at something I hate"

"Don't stay in bed, unless you can make money in bed"

"First you forget names, then you forget faces. Next you forget to pull your zipper up and finally, you forget to pull it down"

"I love to sing,and I love to drink scotch. Most people would rather hear me drink scotch."

"Retirement at sixty-five is ridiculous.When I was sixty-five I still had pimples.

"You know you're getting old when you stoop to tie your shoelaces and wonder what else you could do while you're down there.

"You can't help getting older,but you don't have to get old"

"How can I die? I'm booked"



Use it or lose it ~ intellectual health is possible if you continually use your mind and brain.Whether one is 60 or 90, "People can still achieve success late in life."