"Over the years, I have done my best to sift through the collected information, distilling it into more manageable excerpts—what I like to call special “nuggets” of wisdom and stories—which are now being presented to you in the form of gOld. The individuals you will be meeting in the coming pages [of gOld] are all remarkable, not because they are movie stars, legendary athletes or renowned leaders. They are remarkable simply because they have survived. They have persevered; and they are now in a position to share stories about their journeys and the insights collected along the way. Eldercation encourages us to face the good as well as the challenging side of aging. Old age, both others’ and our own, is not to be feared. It is to be nothing less than accepted and embraced. Old is, most certainly, not a four-letter word."
- Harry J. Getzov 
(Excerpt from:  gOld - The Extraordinary Side of Aging Revealed Through Inspiring Conversations.) 

Learning—Education

Dr. Maya Angelou—82
“‘Sister, if you’re on a road—or if somebody puts you on a road—you don’t like . . . If you look ahead and you don’t like where you’re going, and you look back, and you don’t want to return from where you came, just step off the road. Make yourself a brand-new path.’ My grandmother must have told me that a hundred times. And it has served me quite well over the years.”

Ivan D. Rinehart—98
“People have talents, abilities and skills they don’t even know about. It’s important to understand that to live the kind of life you want to live, you need to seize every opportunity to develop and nurture those skills and talents, so that you can then be useful to others. That’s what this living is all about, in my opinion. . . . Take advantage of the time you have. You have only one life, one chance, so please make the most of it. ’Cause it’s out there.” 
 

Family
 

Dick Vitale—71
“Even with all the honors and awards that have come my way, there is nothing more important than having a family filled with love. That’s what I learned as a youngster. Although my parents were not formally educated, they both had what I like to call ‘doctorates of love,’ and they taught me that in this great country, if you have passion, spirit and enthusiasm, and if you’re good to people, then a lot of beautiful things can happen in your life.”

Mollie Griffith—80
“When I think about [my son] Steven and what he means to me, I’ll always cherish his honesty and his approach in the way he told me about his being gay. That was very, very important to me, because he’s always been something special. And the fact that he gave me the privilege of being honest enough to just come out and tell me that way. I’m very proud of him.”

Work—Career

Myron Kandel—72
“Don’t give up in pursuit of a dream. Life takes funny bounces, and you’ve got to be ready to catch the ball when it bounces your way. But you’ve got to keep after it. . . . .People might sometimes say, ‘Oh, well, you were lucky.’ Well, sure, luck played a great role in my professional career. But you have to have the ability to capitalize on the luck when it occurs; you’ve got to be there, you know? Somebody said—I forget who it was—that the most important part of success is showing up. I truly believe that’s so.

Bill “Moose” Skowron—79
“[Y]ears ago, if you were playing sports, for example, I would say you have to hit the books and get a college education; that was very important. But, today, I’d say something different. When you have a chance to pick up the money that they’re giving today, forget college. If someone offers the big money, you’re taking it; you can go to school during the winter. I mean, the money that they’re paying these guys today—I can’t believe it. . . . Two times at bat, A-Rod makes more money than I made in my whole career!”

Billy Q. McCray—79
“I’ll tell you something about hardship—it may well be that it teaches. Maybe you’ve got to make things difficult for human beings. Maybe that is the only way to learn. I wouldn’t want anyone to have to go through what I did, but, on the other hand, I think they need to experience some of these things to build a good work philosophy. You’ve got to be able to decide that, ‘Hey, I wanna be so and so in life, and I’ve got to pay a price to get it. And the price I’ve got to pay is a combination of money, integrity and hard work. I’ve got to earn everything.’” 

  Money—Wealth

Hazel McCrary—89
“I have a friend who married well and they’ve been well-off for years. I was visiting her the other day and she was washing off the aluminum foil she had over a casserole. And then she laughed and said, ‘I’ve never, in the 86 years I’ve lived, I’ve never outgrown the Depression days.’ People who grew up during that time, there are so many things we do that are similar, like saving and reusing things, not throwing items away. I still do that stuff.”

Roy H. “Mac” McCormick—102
“One thing my folks were always proud of and I am, too—our family never called for relief. Even though it was so tough, and we ran out of stuff and had no money to buy things with, all the way through the Depression, we never once went into town and called for any handouts. We always got by . . . .”

  Health—Wellness

Louise L. Hay—79
“What I see with the baby boomers, unfortunately, is too many of them are hooked on medication and pharmaceuticals, and they are going to have miserable old ages if they are into all that. Because you cannot have a healthy body if you are constantly poisoning it with chemicals. It’s just not possible. And you have all these people who have nine, ten, twelve different medications they take every day. It’s insanity.”

  "If my home had no mirrors . . ."

Young Kim—71
“It’s interesting; I was 32 when I started the business and it’s like my age stopped at that point. I’m still filled with energy, which is precisely why I keep doing it. I never care about how old I am or how old anyone else is. The truth is, I really don’t feel a day over 30. People think I’m kidding when I tell them my age. When I go to the department store with my daughter, they think I’m my daughter’s sister!”

Bernie Brillstein—72
“Listen, if you’re aware of what’s going on and you want to be part of it, that’s great. If you want to sit in your fucking old house in the rocking chair, if you want to become old, you can, too, pal. But that’s just not me. I look forward to adventure every day.”

Fan Benno Caris—89
"First of all, I don’t have any age—I don’t think about age. The fact is, I’ve been working out so much, I forgot to get older myself. . . . All of my friends are in their 40s and 50s—and that’s where I am, I belong with that group. I communicate with them, I do things with them . . . I’m just more attracted to the younger people and we like the same things.”