Act Three refers to seniors of any age who are happily engaged in activities that keep them youthful and enjoying life to the fullest. For some this is their chance to fulfill life-long dreams or ambitions.
Kim Hammond says “I lead a smorgasbord life.” Vivacious and fit at age 70, she is obviously doing something right! Speaking with her, it becomes apparent that she is doing many things to age well, remain youthful and lead a joyful life.
Kim didn’t take long to settle into her new home in Kelowna after moving here in April 2006. A life long learner and one who likes to have her mind stimulated; she pursued an interest in the aging process by enrolling in a Sociology course on aging at the University of British Columbia Okanagan (UBCO). She wants to know what to expect as she ages.
No stranger to hard work, Kim was brought up on a farm in Saskatchewan, the fifth of ten children, where she was taught to pursue her dreams and not let anything stand in the way of her goals. She remembers picking stones from the fields at age 4 and carrying lunch out to the threshing crew at age 5. A reader at age five and eager for education, she used to run away to school! She would be brought back home and disciplined with a spanking, but that didn’t stop her from trying again the next day! When she did attend school she advanced quickly and graduated high school early.
Kim is also not a stranger to a university campus or academic work. As a single parent in Edmonton in the eighties and employed as a secretary/ bookkeeper, she was attracted to the logic of science and excelled as a student. She earned a degree in biological science from the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT) in her thirties. Her education in transplantation, a new field, landed her employment at the University Hospital transplant lab. Still pursuing education, she worked around the constraints of her job by taking early morning courses before going to work. Eventually taking a year off from work to complete her education, she acquired a student loan and at age 50 earned a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Alberta. Most people would be content to stop there but not Kim! She spent a further year as a “special student’ which allowed her to take courses in any faculty. She took yoga, gymnastics, anthropology and a new course that studied brain chemicals and their effect on cognition. This lady loves a challenge.
Fitness and nutrition have also been life long interests of Kim’s. For the Community Learning Service component of the course in geriatrics, she conducted a day-long workshop in fitness and dance in Peachland. Her own fitness regime includes working with weights and stretching with Yoga. Bless her; she loves working out at a gym, a habit she developed as a working single parent and student in order to deal with the stress of her life.
Seniors interested in taking credit courses at UBCO pay no tuition after age 65.
2007-02 - Donna Duke
