SON: Connections - Spring 2002

Headlines | Briefly | From the Deans Desk | Alumni News

Voices from the New "Wonder Years": Life After "Retirement"
Shirley Murphy, PhD, FAAN
Professor Emeritus of Psychosocial and Community Health
Nationally known for her 20 years of work helping parents and families cope with the violent death of a child.

"For me, healthy aging is a continuation of life-long patterns of exercise, diet, preventive health care, intellectual stimulation, leisure, and involvement with others one cares about. I retired in 1999 at age 65, but so far have experienced little change from my previous lifestyle. For example, the twice-daily exercise program I began 25 years ago is identical now to then. I eat out only a few times a year. My primary care doc puts me through the necessary paces. I couldn't live without the intellectual stimulation I get from research colleagues, manuscript reviews I do for numerous professional journals, almost daily writing for publication, and being the Project Director for a National Institute on Drug Abuse training grant awarded in 1991. For the first two years of retirement, I participated in the university's "40% rehire" program and taught several courses. I also chair two boards of directors and my latest thing is serving as an expert witness on legal cases. One change is that I am more contemplative than in the past. Unfortunately, my husband and I don't see as much of our four sons and three grandchildren as we would like. I am striving for a better balance between work and leisure. Life reminds me of a cartoon I saw in the New Yorker: Client to doctor: 'how much longer do I have to ignore your advice?'"

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