Bonus Years Institutions - Bonus Years

Landscape-Logo_color_med

by Phil Burgess, Unabridged Bonus Years column from the Life section of the Annapolis Capital, Sunday, December 8, 2019 As Dr. Seuss might have said, last week was special, special-er than most, because I got to meet Captain Brian Hope. Hope, born on Thanksgiving Day in 1943 in Lowell, Massachusetts, is a man of many…

by Phil Burgess, Unabridged from Bonus Years in the Life section of the Annapolis Capital, Sunday, November 10, 2019 Last week it was my privilege to get to know Bobby Villares, age 62, and his son, Gabe, age 24 – and to learn about Langton Green, a hidden jewel in our community. First, the people. …

Remembrances. Reflections. Recollections. Time for musings is clearly a benefit of the bonus years. With each passing year, our life experiences pile up. Some we want to forget, especially memories of those times we got in the way of good judgment. But most memories are rooted in positive anecdotes, rich tales or experiences that tell…

by Phil Burgess, Unabridged from the Life section of the Annapolis Capital, Sunday, September 22, 2019 There’s no place like home – and that goes for those in their bonus years as much as for any age group. You would be excused if you thought differently. After all, most news is about those longer in…

by Phil Burgess, Unabridged from the Life section of the Annapolis Capital, Sunday, September 15, 2019 “Sublime” is not a word I use very often. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever used it. And a Google graphic tells me I’m not alone because it shows that use of the word sublime has seriously declined…

by Phil Burgess, Unabridged from the Life section of the Annapolis Capital, Sunday, September 8, 2019 Readers of a certain age will remember Art Linkletter, the radio and television talk-show pioneer who, for 25 years, hosted the Emmy-winning “House Party” and “People are Funny” broadcasts. Of his many achievements, Linkletter is perhaps best known for…

Group of volunteers preparing for distribution

Unabridged article from the Life section of the Annapolis Capital, Sunday, June 06, 2019 A few weeks ago, we wrote about Severna Park’s Asbury Community Assistance Network, where bonus years volunteers support individuals and families in crisis, providing food and other services to more than 1,000 people each week. Last week, Rhonda Jackson, retired from…

Unabridged from the Life section of the Annapolis Capital, Sunday, June 2, 2019 “It’s better to wear out than rust out” is the underlying theme of most of our bonus years stories. It’s also how I think about my own bonus years. I’ve learned that continuing engagement in paid work, volunteer work and other kinds…

Unabridged article from the Life section of the Annapolis Capital, Sunday, January 4, 2019 New Year’s Eve was a dreary day in Annapolis. It was cold and rainy. Little did I know that my day would soon be filled with the light of Frank Jones whose uplifting manner and inspiring story could raise the spirits…

Unabridged article from the Life section of the Annapolis Capital, Sunday, December 14, 2018 Last week, Mary Sue and I were ringing bells for the Salvation Army’s red donation kettle located at City Dock by Zachery’s jewelry store in downtown Annapolis. That’s when I first met Steve Rice. Like many others that brisk Monday morning,…

Unabridged article from the Life section of the Annapolis Capital, Sunday, November 16, 2018 Thursday next is Thanksgiving – first proclaimed by George Washington in 1789 and formally established as a national holiday by Abraham Lincoln in 1863. None of us should need a special day to count our blessings or express gratitude. Still, Thanksgiving…

Places like Myrtle Beach and Wilmington, North Carolina are names familiar to most of us – especially after their recent bashing by hurricane Florence. But if you travel about 300 miles to the west of these well-known coastal communities – to the foothills of the Blue Ridge – you will find Lenoir, a North Carolina…

(Dick Libby, of Annapolis, officiated at the Kirkin’ o’ the Tartan at Washington National Cathedral in 2010, 50 years after he had been ordained there as an Episcopal priest. [Capital Gazette]) Poet Robert Browning talked to us about “…the last of life for which the first was made.” For some, the link between the first…

Our first Bonus Years column appeared on June 3, 2012. That was six years and 200 columns ago. Our aim was to write a column a week. That should add to 312. What happened to the other 112? Answer: We do our storytelling as a labor of love, so it competes with other affections –…

Though it’s a national sport to complain about our culture, much of what we “know” is fed to us by national media that are fixated on what is nasty, brutish, scandalous or weird – all of which is amplified in the 24×7 national “news” cycle. But if we stand back and look at things, especially…

Unabridged from my Bonus Years column in the Lifestyle section of The Sunday Capital, Annapolis, Maryland Last week I was driving west over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge – returning home after an afternoon’s conversation with three members of the Christensen family, the owners of the Visiting Angels in-home, elder-care franchise in Easton, Maryland. Along the way, I was…