December 4, 2006 3:42 PM

America's oldest worker puts things in perspective
Posted by Douglas Eisenhartat 3:42 PM

If you need a dose of inspiration and perspective on your working life right about now, look no further than this story about Waldo McBurney, winner of the "America's Oldest Worker for 2006" award from Experience Works:

QUINTER , Kan. -- At 104, Waldo McBurney has never known a life without work.

His first paying job was guiding a lead team of horses pulling a wheat thrasher. He was 13 and was paid 50 cents a day.

After graduating from college in 1927, he worked a quarter century at various jobs: as a vocational-agricultural teacher, county extension agent, and at the local co-op. He started a business cleaning seeds for planting in the 1950s and ran it until he was 91. He took a decades-long hobby of beekeeping and went into the honey business, which he still has.

"I'm not a strong believer in retirement," he said. "I don't think retirement is in the Bible."

McBurney has many refreshing thoughts on contemporary life, with its plethora of digital gadgets, constant interruptions, and surplus of time to think:

McBurney grew up on a farm at a time when neighbors helped neighbors without asking, when life was more about work than worry.

"I expect people worry now more than then. Worry is a killer," he said. "Back then, you did your chores, lit the kerosene lamp, and read."

Read the entire piece from the Boston Sunday Globe.