By Emerson Sandow
Patricia Wheatley is 82 and earns $16 per hour, working at a friend’s boat store to supplement her Social Security.
Her first job was teaching elementary school music. She also volunteered and taught junior high, where she stayed until 1973. She married in 1974 and then homeschooled her children while helping her dentist husband.
Ms. Wheatley returned to teaching in the late 1990s. Her husband passed away in 2000, but her mother was living with her and her daughter. She returned to school at 57 and earned a master’s degree to work as a guidance counselor at a small school near her house; she remained employed there until 2014.
Then, a friend of hers said she needed someone to answer phones and do filing at her boat shop. Patricia has worked there, making $16 per hour. She likes the fact that the job keeps her thinking, making decisions, and learning new things.
A friend of hers offered Patricia a job at her boat shop, answering the phone and filing. The job pays $16 per hour, and Patricia worked there until 2021.
She bought a house, and it is paid off. When the man who was helping her get the mortgage finished, he said “I have no idea what kind of relationship you have with God, but He has bought you a deal that nobody should have at this point.”
Patricia has 26 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren. She enjoys giving them presents at their birthdays and at Christmas, but admits that’s a lot of gifts!
Patricia says she does not have a lot of downtime, what with Bible Study at church, gardening, and family visits and outings. Ms. Wheatley says she feels stable, and the boat shop job is part of that, as it supplements her Social Security.
Patricia is a testament to the fact that age is not a determinant in one’s productivity.
