Georgia Magazine - January 2015 - 5

FROM THE EDITOR
Can it be that another year has
passed so quickly? I always look forward to the new year; the past is history, but the future is a blank slate, ready
to be written upon! It's an opportunity
to make changes (exercise more?), do
something you haven't done or discover new ways to do old things.
Yes, a whole new year lies ahead,
and a new chapter for GEORGIA Magazine-and for me. This issue, January
2015, is my 248th edition as editor-
and the last press deadline as I retire.
Not including all the pages our staff
also produces for co-op newsletters as
part of the magazine, a quick estimate
tells me it's been at least 10,000 magazine pages of production! (Can anyone
calculate how many printed copies
that timeframe represents? My guess is
more than 100,000,000 copies!)
The coming year also holds anniversaries. Begun in 1945, the magazine
celebrates its 70th year of publishing,
while its parent company, Georgia
Electric Membership Corp. (EMC),
marks 75 years. Predating the electric
co-ops, the University of Georgia Extension just celebrated its 100th birthday! (See pages 18 and 42 for more.)
This January issue also presents
numerous Washington Youth Tour
delegates on 28 of the Georgia co-ops'
covers. Each is a localized version
brought to you by your electric cooperative. Georgia EMC's 50th annual
Youth Tour heads for Washington,
D.C., on June 11, 2015, and more than
100 delegates will see why so many
past participants have said, "It's a lifechanging experience!"
Being editor of this great publication has been life-changing too. And as
Sen. Saxby Chambliss said at his retirement, "It's been a great ride!"

Ann Orowski
Editor

(Contined from front

tion that older folks don't necessarily lose their usefulness, creativity or
productivity as they age?
At my doctor's ofﬁce, two longtime staff members retired last
year. One was the head nurse, and
the other was in charge of ofﬁce
administration. Their replacements,
unfortunately, didn't have the requisite training to ﬁll out insurance
forms, and they kept mixing up
appointment times. In short, the
ofﬁce was a mess. My doctor frantically called the two retirees to see
if they were willing to come back
to straighten things out and was
surprised that both jumped at the
chance. One said her cat complained
about her sitting around the house
all day, and the other said her husband didn't like her being underfoot all the time. They're back in my
doctor's ofﬁce now. One works two
days a week, the other three. And
everybody's happy.
My dad talked about the three
stages in life-the learning stage, the
work stage and the retirement stage.
He didn't say which he preferred,
but poet Robert Browning described
the retirement stage as "the last of
life, for which the ﬁrst was made,"
and added, "The best is yet to be." To
which I say, thus may it be for each
of us, whatever we may choose to
do with it.

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What readers asked

A great gift idea!

More online at www.georgiamagazine.org

What readers say about
"Viewpoint," the monthly
column of Paul Wood:
"A new decade begins"
was just chock-full
of wisdom that many
on both sides of the
of our leaders
aisle seem to lack. I'd
like to shake your hand
tell you how much
I think of you."
one day and

Visit www.georgiamag
azine.org to order "It's
My View," a hardbound
book featuring 100 of
the magazine readers'
favorite columns.

PAUL WOOD is the
president and CEO
of Georgia Electric Membership
Corp., headquartere
d
in Tucker. Georgia EMC
represents Georgia's
42 electric membership
corporations (EMCs),
Oglethorpe Power Corp.,
Georgia Transmission
Corp. and Georgia
System Operations
Corp.,
providing electricity
to more than 4.5 million
residents and businesses
in Georgia.

Prior to his move to
Georgia, Wood was
executive director of the
Association of Louisiana
Electric Cooperatives
. Today, he has become
one
of Georgia's most fervent
promoters through
his
service to the Georgia
Department of Economic
Development, Georgia
Chamber of Commerce,
4-H Foundation, FDR
Warm Springs Memorial
Advisory Committee
and KidsPeace. In 2004,
Georgia Gov. Sonny
Perdue tapped Wood
to
serve as co-chairman
of the Governor's Conference on Tourism, and,
in 2007,
Wood to chair the Commission Perdue also asked
for a New Georgia Service Delivery
Taskforce. Not long
after
Gov. Nathan Deal was
inaugurated in 2011,
he
appointed Wood to
serve on his newly formed
Georgia Competitiven
ess Initiative. During
his
nearly half-century
of service to electric
membership cooperatives, Wood
has held many leadership positions, including
president of the Rural
Electric Statewide Managers'
Association.

for ...

It's My View

GEORGIA Magazine
readers have loved
Paul Wood's monthly
most 15 years; response
columns for alto the magazine points
of every issue. After
numerous readers suggestedto this being the most-read page
columns in a book,
that Wood put his "Viewpoint"
he did. This book is
the result.

-Dave K., Townsend,
Ga.
inspirational in his
common-sense approach
to everything!"
-Jamie W., Richmond
Hill, Ga.
"Paul, keep up the
good work. I always
enjoy your articles."
"Mr. Wood ... is so

-Larry W., Perry, Ga.
"I am thrilled about
this book. Paul Wood's
'Viewpoint' is the first
the magazine."
thing I read in

-Anita J., West Point,
Ga.
"Thank you very much
for the 'Viewpoint'
article, 'Growing older?
This is a splendid article
Who, me?'
on aging. We always
enjoy Paul's articles
..."
-Jeanette G., Cleveland,
Ga.
"My GEORGIA Magazine
arrived yesterday. ...
Wood's. His words
My first article is always
ring true to me. Please
Paul
pass along my applause."
-Angela S., Blairsville,
Ga.
"Paul Wood always
gives us something
to think about."
-Vickie H., Thomson,
Ga.
IT'S MY VIEW

JACKET DESIGN BY
TRUDIE THIBODEAUX
JACKET PHOTOGRAP
HY BY LOUIS TONSMEIRE
PRINTED IN THE
U.S.A.
© 2011 GEMC GEORGIA
MAGAZINE

2011

By Paul Wood

ften Grandma returns to the
workplace after retirement because she wasn't able to save
enough money to cover her living
expenses. You know the expenses
I'm talking about: gasoline, health
care, mortgage payments and much
more. They don't go away when we
retire. All of us know someone who
was forced to return to the workplace for ﬁnancial reasons.
The government released a retirement survey the other day that
said 40 percent of workers expect
to retire later than their ofﬁcial retirement age, and half of all workers
said they plan to work another job
for as long as they are able.
I don't know what you intend to
do, but I will give you one piece of
advice: Don't stop moving. When I
was a boy, we had a neighbor who
retired at age 65 and was dead by
age 69. He sat on his front porch,
watched television and, on Sunday,
walked one block to his church,
where he sat down again. Doing
nothing, it turns out, was deﬁnitely
not healthy for him.
If you must go back to work, it
should be some consolation to know
you're likely to live longer than those
who fully retire and do nothing. Being active and doing something you
enjoy is the best prescription for a
long and healthy retirement. If you
can make money while doing it, so
much the better. Don't forget, Colonel Harland Sanders didn't start his
fried chicken franchise business until he was 65. It seems to me that
the best retirement is one that permits you to work at the thing you
like to do most. And wouldn't it be
nice to show the younger genera-

It's
My
View

GEORGIA Magazine

town of Natchitoches

, La.

faith and education.

report."

January 2015

BY PAUL WOOD
President/CEO, Georgia Electric Membership Corporation

It's My View

Thank you!

Why Grandma goes back

A collection of readers
' favorite 'Viewpoint'
columns from GEOR
GIA Magazine

By Paul Wood

President/CEO, Georgia
Electric

Membership Corp.

meaning of life. In "Good
friends
times," you'll think
of someone wh
when the going was
rough. He also
advice for graduates
looking for a
celebrating the Fourth
of July and
a more meaningful
Christmas for t
There is also considerable
commen
officials could make
government wo
levels. Hardly any subject
escapes th
opinion of Paul Wood.

is more than a nostalgic
look at the
reminder that many
of those
learned are just as applicable early le
today a
in mid-20th-century
America. Wood
every person possesses
a unique gift
discovered and cultivated,
has the ca
change the world. At
the very least, th
is apt to find Wood's
insights a helpfu
for understanding the
problems that v
complicated world
in early 21st-centu

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Georgia Magazine - January 2015

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