M Spring 2001

TRANSFORMING THE AGING MYTH: ELDERS CAN BRING VITALITY, WIDSOM, AND STRENGTH TO THE WORLD

Do people lose their value to society as they get older? And if so, does that happen at 60? Or 70? Perhaps 80? Or is it simply after they retire? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you haven’t met Jan Hively.

At 70, Hively is old enough to be a grandmother, but the look in her eyes is more determination than doting. And her smile is there because she’s loving and living every minute of her life—and what a life it is.
Ask about her past and she’ll list her acomplishments—Minneapolis deputy mayor, Metropolitan Council member, Minneapolis Public School employee, and youth advocate. Ask about what she does now, after retirement, and she’ll slow down—a little. She completed her doctoral research on Productive Aging in Rural Minnesota, she is currently the coordinator of the University of Minnesota’s Vital Aging Initiative on the Twin Cities campus, and this year she planned and organized the University’s Vital Aging Summit, an event that drew more than 400 people.

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