How long did your parents work?

brett said:
My father retired at 58/59. He was in poor health. He had been off work for five months. On his first or second day back his VP asked him how he was. My dad said he was ready to go.

His boss said go home, six leave for six months. Then co e back and we will give you a medical pension. 35 plus years.

He moved to the west coast. 18 holes of golf three times a week. His health improved overnight. Lived to 87...never spent one day in a care home.

Oddly enough, I retired at the same age.
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It's nice to hear stories of benevolent bosses. Many would have possibly denied him his pension without batting an eye.
 
My father had a goal of retiring at 50 which he accomplished. He became a Master Gardener and had many interests which kept him busy.

My mother was a Stay at Home Mom to six kids and after we all left the next she helped take care of her mother and then her MIL. She now lives in a Senior Living apartment and is finally enjoying her retirement.
 
DF retired at age 59. He went to work for the N&W railroad at age 16 after high school (not as many grades then) and worked there his entire career except for breaks for WWII and Korea. He started as a messenger and became a computer programmer in 1964. He told me of using the mainframe that had all of 4 kB of RAM. When N&W merged with the Southern in the 1980s he couldn’t RE fast enough! Of course, back then, there were traditional pensions with health insurance, even a separate pension for Mom who was a housewife her whole married life.

So he was behind me 100% for FIRE.
 
DM worked outside of home after kids left. DF was chem engineer and was laid off in mid fifties (age, not decade), moved from midwest to NJ so could job shop with refineries and such. I think he was about 64 when hung that up. Had a comfortable but somewhat strange retirement, first living by DW and me and our children, then DM insisted they move to very rural OK because she was a "country girl" at heart and they had visited my brother there and she really took to it. DF was not happy about that but off they went. I knew my brother would be no help to them and in no time there was, let's just say a major falling out. After two or three years there, DM came down with cancer and I moved them back by us, actually into our house where hospice took over. She passed at 70 and he held out until 77. In his last year we moved again and moved him in with us, hospice once again.

Comparatively ours is a much better retirement both financially and just in general enjoyment. As years tick off I often find myself thinking, hmm, what were my parents doing at this age? The fact that they were smokers puts me way ahead on the physical side of things, she had lung cancer and he lost out to emphysema. My brother had both.

While rambling about parents, one regret I have about my father. Born in 1920, he was prime age for WW2. However, he spent those years in grad school at Princeton and all I know is he worked on Manhattan project, something to do with boron. I regret never having delved into exactly what it was he did research on. All I recall is that he didn't know exactly what the end purpose was of what he was doing. I believe he also did some prospecting in Idaho or thereabouts during that time. So there are some mysteries of those years of his I wish I had asked more about.:(
 
The control rods in a nuclear reactor are made of boron carbide. Sometimes the spent fuel pools are filled with a borate solution and sometimes the core itself is filled with a borate solution to ensure safe shutdown.
 
My Mom retired at 62. She had something like 41 years with the federal government, or whatever it is that you need, to max out your retirement under the old CSRS plan. I always thought it was 40 years, where you got 80%, but she said that it was actually slightly more. My stepdad was a plumbing inspector for the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission. He took an early retirement, something like 59.5, around the same time my Mom did.

In retrospect, both of them said they regretted retiring when they did, but they're both looking through their former careers with rose tinted glasses. Mom was getting fed up with the way the Federal government was starting to turn, and her catchphrase was starting to become "Piss me off enough, and I'll retire!" As for my stepdad, he has his faults, and I can't stand him sometimes, but one thing I'll say for him...he actually is honest as the day is long. And, in his career that would prove to bite him on the butt. His superiors were taking bribes to pass shoddy plumbing on big projects, especially those megachurches and such that seem to proliferate around here. They tried to get my stepdad to pass them, but he would refuse. As a result, they piled work on him, made his life miserable, etc, so he decided to go out around the same time as my Mom.

Of course, to ask either of them about that now, they'll both say "Oh, our jobs weren't that bad". But, it's also been around 10 years. Mom went out in January of 2011, and my stepdad soon after. So, at this point they've both come to accept retirement and be happy with it, and any aspirations about going back to work are probably gone for good.

My Dad was a dental technician for the Veteran's hospital in DC, or something like that. I know he was federal government, but he was on some kind of system, other than the GS-XX that I'm more familiar with. He retired at 62, as soon as he was eligible for SS, but he did it to take care of Granddad, his father, who at that point was 94, and while healthy for his age, was starting to slip.
 
My Dad started working in the coal mines in Pennsylvania at age 14 or so since his parents (my grandparents died early). When WWII broke out, Dad joined the Navy to get out of the coal mines. I figure he was a functional alcoholic by then from the stories he told me when I was a kid.

After the war, he and Mom relocated to Connecticut so he could find work in Bridgeport in a record cutting factory. Dad never finished high school. Mom did not either from what I know. I was about 3 years old after the war.

My parents had two more children (my sisters) in the next few years and that qualified our family to move into a housing project (not a great place). Dad worked factory jobs and finally got a job in the Post Office unloading trucks, until he was 62.

I left home at 17 after high school, worked for a while, and when I got my draft notice, went into the military.

Dad died at 62 (just retired) and it was not pretty when you die of too much Vodka. Mom only worked in her later years and that was part time until she was 70 as she was living with one of my sisters. She passed at 82 and had pretty bad dementia.

My parents never had much of a life, let alone a comfy retirement. I guess a lot of how you end up is a function of where you start.

Somehow, the alcoholic gene only touched two out of three of us siblings. However, it passed to some of our children as we have had some long term issues in that area. All is good now. Off topic a bit, sorry.
 
"old man" was a "lifer"; military life didn't really allow for spouse to work... (from third to seventh grade, I was in eight different schools!) As you can imagine, employers wanted a more permanent worker

as for him, like many he went in early and stayed in but not the full thirty year (his was from late WW2 and into Vietnam...) and did some work after (total was probably 40+ years)
{passing before eligible for SS; she preceased him}
 
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My Dad was a pastor for 50 years. He got into debt early on and struggled to get out the rest of his life. He had to keep working to make payments. He finally had a church large enough to cancel his debt so he could actually retire at 80, nine years ago.



This was a big factor in our E-R inspiration - I did *not* want to work until I was too old to enjoy it!
 
My father worked as an engineer until he had a series of strokes at 55. He died at 72. My mom got cancer at 55 and died at 61. My aunts and uncles lived into their 80s and 90s, so there’s hope. I’ve already surpassed my mom’s age. My biggest advantage is I’ve never smoked as they did.
 
This is such an interesting thread. I enjoyed reading all the many varying experiences.

My dad dropped out of high school after 9th grade and went to work. As far as I know he always worked after that. He met my mom when they both worked for the same meat packing company. They got married and they both worked there until the plant shut down when I was 17. Then they got jobs elsewhere. He hurt his shoulder and it gave him a lot of trouble so he retired in his early 60s. He had planned to work to 62. He died at 75 from lung cancer. It was a shock, in a way, as he was a very active person, thin, etc. But, of course, the smoking did him in.

My mother got her first job after high school and married my dad a few years later. She was never a SAHM. I was adopted and she stayed home with me for a few months and then she went back to work. She worked until she was about 64. I actually found out she had retired when I called her office (to speak to her) and they said she had retired! Apparently, she got angry at something going on at her office and basically just quit. She honestly could have retired when my Dad retired but she was always anxious about money.

She died at 94. She was living on her own, driving her car, and still mentally OK up until a couple of months before she died. I asked her not long before she died why she had worked after marriage and motherhood as that was not common then. She was literally the only married mother among my friends that worked. She said that she never felt she wanted to depend on a man for her livelihood. She wanted the independence of earning her living. But, just the fact that she worked when I was a child in the 50s and 60s had a profound effect on me. I always assumed I would have a career. When I was a small child she took me across town to a female pediatrician (this was in the late 50s, early 60s) because she wanted me to know that a woman could be a physician. When JFK was killed, she had me memorize the name of the judge who swore in LBJ (Sarah T Hughes) because she wanted me know a woman could be a judge.
 
Mom retired from her local school system at 65 where she worked for 20+ years. Before that, she worked occasionally but was mainly a SAHM.
Dad owned his own business starting in the mid 1970's and from about 65 till 70 he ramped it down till he retired. Mom lived to 82 and Dad to 93 with a 15 year age difference.
Between them, they had 11 kids.

I'll be 60 this year and will likely retire within the next 2-3 years. Just 1 kid for us and she's in college now.

Cheers.
 
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My Dad left school and went down the coal mine at age 14 and was still working at the same mine when he retired at age 60, so 46 years working. My mother started work at 14 but became disabled in her early 50s and had to give up work, dying at age 62.

My brother left school at 18 at went down the same coal mine as our Dad. He is still a coal miner today in Australia at age 64, so 46 years and still working with no plans to retire. (He is a manager of a coal mine and loves the money)

I left school at age 18 and worked until I retired at age 55 so 37 years working for me.

Similar stories with my wife and her parents. They both started work at 14, and both worked until age 65, so 51 years working for each of them.
 
My dad started working around 12 delivering newspapers as did I. He retired at 63 as did I. He graduated from high school and spent the great majority of his career working for the railroad along with the Army during WW2 and sports writer for the same newspaper he delivered papers for. The last 20 years or so he was the head of the Civil Engineering department. In the later years the people he hired had degrees in civil engineering, but he never went to college. My mom was a teacher when they were married. She became a SAHM when my sister came along. About the time I started high school she went back to work as a teacher in Head Start and did that for several years. She took a job as a clerk in a sewing store for a short time to have enough quarters to qualify for Social Security. It was about the same time the Government was consolidating Railroad Retirement into Social Security and after that Mom could not get any Social Security because she got Railroad Retirement based on my dad's work. BTW, Dad would be 109 now if he were still living.
 
Such interesting stories!

My Dad left school at 17 to join the Navy in 1944. He learned to be an electrician in the Navy and worked at that after he got out in 1946. Eventually he ended up being a self employed salesman for a roofing company and did that from the early 1960's until he retired in 1985 at age 59.5. He had been quite a good salesman and had built up his Keogh plan to the point where he could retire and live off of that until taking Social Security at 62. He retired at the peak of his career because he was just done with selling and wanted to retire while he was still healthy. He lived until age 90 so he had a good long retirement.

Mom was a clerk in a department store and didn't work after marriage. After all 3 of us kids were grown she volunteered at a preschool which she really enjoyed. She had to stop that as she got older. She died suddenly in 2011 at age 83 and two weeks later my Dad broke his hip and from there it was a slow decline until he died 5 years later.

Reflecting back on this I realize how well he did after his childhood with a single mom and a dad who he never knew. He talked about being "on the dole" during the Depression and how they moved so often due to eviction. The Navy years had a big impact on him.
 
2017ish said:
Dad went into military right out of high school, then was a bricklayer who eventually hung out his own shingle/hod. He was still working when diagnosed with terminal lung ca at 69--so say 51 years. Mom helped out in the masonry business, as well as other jobs over the years (and raised 4 kids). So she would have been working about 55 years or so if you include all the child-rearing years.
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Very close story as above. It hit home.

My Dad went to work in a factory right out of high school, then was a bricklayer who eventually hung out his own shingle. He worked till 70 when he was diagnosed with Parkinson's, was working on selling all of his equipment and tools when he died 7 years later. Mom did the same as well but only 2 kids.
 
Dad joined the Army at 17. Helped win WWII. Transferred to USAF in 1948. Worked in EOD until he retired in 1965. Then went into Civil Service and retired from that in 1983 age 62.
Passed away at 89.
Momma was a waitress for awhile then a telephone operator for a couple of years. After that she was a house wife. Passed away at 90.
 
Mom had a big job taking care of four kids and a husband who worked ungodly hours in retail. At some point mom decided to take a job outside of the house. Probably to preserve her sanity.
Unfortunately she passed away at the young age of 52.
Dad continued his career until 60. By that time he had remarried. He and his wife bought a bed and breakfast. They did that for about five years. Dad fully retired at 65. That was nearly 20 years ago.
 
Not sure how long my Dad worked, he got drafted at the end of WWII, but the war ended before deployment. He went to college, got a job and got drafted again and sent to Korea. After that, he worked until his employer retired him at 62 due to Alzheimer's.

My Mom grew up on a farm, so basically worked her whole life. She died at 44, never retired other than the two years it took for the cancer to eat her.

DW's Dad died of a heart attack at 37. Her Mom worked 55 years, retiring at 75.

We decided that given the family history, we shouldn't wait any longer, so I just retired after 40 years and DW will retire in two weeks after 40 years.
 
Very interesting stories I enjoy them and really not an easy way for your parents early years.

My dad started out working very young also. At about 7 years old he and a couple of his brothers were framed out for the summer as soon as school was out. They went to work for farmers and ranchers and where gone all summer then back a day or so before school started again in the fall. My dad told me after 4 years with the same family he got a worn out coat for winter. That was his pay but they feed him and housed him and were very good to him. He said he worked very hard during those summers. He never finished school either had to then work at his dads harness and shoe shop. He would be 100 now but passed away 88.
 
Work

Mom worked for about 30 years, retired around 54 after an injury, dad retired after 41 years (10 in the military) around 63. Wife retired after first son was born at 29, so 7 years of work. I retired at 42 after 20 years. Parents averaged 35.5, we averaged 13.5.
 
Dad was employed by the same company for 48 years. He started at age 17 after HS graduation. Employer kept him on the books as an employee while he fought in Europe during WWII. He worked till age 65 in order to keep Mom on his health insurance as long as possible. Mom dropped out of HS and started working in a factory at age 17. She retired at age 59, so she worked for approx. 42 years.

I think this was unusual that both parents had long working careers at only one employer.
 
W2R said:
My father was a surgeon. On the day he was moving out of his office to retire, at age 70, he had a doctor appointment. So, he told my brother (who was helping him move all that furniture out) that he'd be back in a few minutes.



The doctor told him he had metastatic cancer and gave him two weeks to live.



I had arrived at the family home (in Hawaii) for a one week visit the day before, thank goodness. So, I was able to be there for my mother who, like the rest of us, was devastated. My father wanted privacy and did not want interaction with friends at that time, so we did what we could to help him with that.



He didn't die for a year, but he was in excruciating pain and I wouldn't call that a retirement in the normal sense.
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This is heartbreaking, W2R. It must have completely changed the way you viewed life and retirement.
 
My wife and I worked only 37 years. But I say that with acknowledgment of plenty of privilege growing up (two parents, always food on the table, white, me - male, some financial assistance along the way, likely inherited wealth, low crime neighborhoods).
My Dad worked 55 years and loved it.
My mom did payed work 10 years. I say that with respect for the many years taking care of the family after being paid for work.
Her dad 35 years.
Her mom 25 payed work years.
 
swakyaby said:
This is heartbreaking, W2R. It must have completely changed the way you viewed life and retirement.
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Thanks for understanding. Yes, it did. It's hard to describe watching my own father, a strong, tough surgeon who was used to dealing with life and death every day, on the afternoon of his diagnosis. He just wanted to stare out the window of our oceanfront home watching the surf breaking on our beach. He didn't want to talk to anybody. He was too busy taking in every moment that he had left.

After seeing that I was determined to retire earlier than 65, no matter what. And, I did. Ironically, I am 72 so I have outlived him already.

He had had two major heart attacks in his early 50's, which is why he had to quit doing the more major, more stressful life-or-death burn surgeries that were his specialty, and instead semi-retire to Hawaii at age 56 (continuing to work but limiting himself to minor surgeries after that). No more stress, healthier lifestyle, no more heart attacks! And then, cancer got him. I guess when your time is up, it's up. :-\
 
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