Grays on The Go

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But the elderly are doing far, far more than just playing. The "shadow work" of millions of volunteers -- in schools, hospital wards, prisons and arts centers -- has helped fill the hole left by younger women, once full-time volunteers, who have entered the work force. Many retirees view such service as a duty as well as a pastime. Lois Eiseman, 67, a former kindergarten teacher, travels to schools and day-care centers to test children for hearing disabilities. Restaurant Owner "Daddy" Bruce Randolph, 88 this week, serves thousands of dinners to Denver's homeless and shut-ins every Thanksgiving. Wayne Matson, 67, a retired Air Force colonel, volunteers full time for the humane society in Winter Haven, Fla. "If you're not committed to something," he declares, "you're just taking up space."

For others, the luxury of time and health has required some creative thinking. In the 1880s, when German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck set the retirement age at 65, the average life expectancy was 45. No problem there. But these days, many of those over 65 who prepared themselves for a life of leisure found they were not cut out for it. For them, the greatest luxury of retirement is returning to work -- on their own terms. Robert Pamplin, 76, former head of the Georgia-Pacific Corp., prudently began plotting his corporate afterlife ten years before he reached his company's mandatory retirement age. In 1976, on his 65th birthday, he bought a small sand-and- gravel company in Portland, Ore. Ten years and two other acquisitions later, he oversees a small empire with revenues of $420 million. Pamplin too saw his postretirement course as a sort of duty. "God has given us certain talents," he says. "And he gave them to us to use."

Granted, many retirees looking to return to work have had a harder time. It often takes many months to find a suitable job, whether to supplement Social Security or fill spare time. But between 1980 and 1986 the number of part-time employees in the U.S. rose by 23%, twice the rate of full-time jobholders, in part because many large corporations were quick to respond to the widened applicant pool. McDonald's created McMasters, a four-week job-training program for people over 50. The part-time work has helped people like Kathrine Gaik, 76, dodge an idle old age. The Travelers Insurance Co. of Hartford is saving more than $1 million a year by hiring back retired workers instead of paying fees to temp agencies. What is more, says Employment Director Donald K. Deward, "we get better, more competent, dedicated and highly motivated people."

The activity and prosperity of America's retirees have not gone unnoticed on Madison Avenue. There was a time when advertisers behaved as though no one past middle age ever bought anything more durable than panty hose. No more. Few marketing experts can ignore the fact that Americans over 50 earn more than half the discretionary income in the country. Magazine publishers are betting on the favorable demographics. Norman Lear's former wife Frances, 64, will next week debut Lear's, a glossy upscale bimonthly for women over 40. Major firms are forming special groups to study the senior market, and at least one company that offers ageless ads has opened. "My sense is we're on the leading edge right now," says Jerry Gerber of LifeSpan in Manhattan, "way out there, totally new, totally different."