Retirement. We fantasize about retirement when we are young, when we find ourselves working long hours, traveling, and stressed over the next meeting or project. We hold on to “one day” when we can sleep past 6am, piddle around the house, do all that traveling we have never gotten around to, and finish the movies we started, but fell asleep watching. Is that all retirement is? A focus on unfulfilled moments we wanted for ourselves?
Oliver Waltman retired a few years back from a very demanding and successful career. He was a leader in his field, often quiet, his mind running through scenarios of what his team needed to accomplish, how to become more efficient, and giving his all as a commitment to that organization. Oliver viewed work as a place to invest in people and to help those people grow their skills and abilities while valuing each of them as individuals. Retirement further shows his commitment to those people as he attends weddings, retirements, anniversary parties and funerals.
As he reached retirement, he prepared for how he would use his time. Being accustom to working 80+ hours a week, he needed a plan in place. He could only sleep late, eat whatever he wanted and piddle for a week or two and then he knew he would slowly go insane. His career had taught him sacrifice, generosity, self-discipline, work ethic, determination and contribution. No way could he slam on the brakes of his life to stall when he had lived full throttle for over 40 years.
He chose to share and one of the first ways he began to invest was through Grace Klein Community. He’s not the boisterous type. He’s steady and peacemaking. He notices the flaws in a system and implements ideas to make the organization better. He’s not a talker of what someone else needs to do, but a doer.
Almost every day, Oliver is contributing to Grace Klein Community. Maybe he’s telling his friends about Grace Klein Community during a round of golf or repairing the chairs, in his shop, that now sit in your kitchen. He is the one recruiting donations from his neighbors during their Saturday morning breakfast ritual and the one cleaning the windows with newspaper so a mission night can be hosted in his home. He helps prepare yard sales and we have seen him visit a few mission and adoptive yard sales to support community families and drop off a bag of Krystals or a box of donuts.
The order he brings to the community office is such a huge investment. He helped build the chicken coop and garden area and is always looking for ways to help keep the office space cleaned and organized. If you have ever been to the office, you understand what a task it is to keep order to a constant moving target. Donations come in and out almost every hour, an organizer nightmare, but God has given Oliver the patience to help and share his ideas. He notices the donations someone left in the driveway, unfortunately ruined by the rain, and he gets them loaded into the dumpster. The tasks that some term as demeaning are the very ones he is never “too good” to tackle.
Serve days require leadership from community volunteers and he is available and present almost every serve day. He invests in the youth, encouraging them to contribute with all their hearts. His heart for people, maximizing their potential, comes through challenging assignments and accountability for the young people. He is teaching discipline to follow through on tasks assigned with a positive attitude. Serve days teach teenagers to put aside themselves and work with all our hearts unto the Lord. Whether it is cleaning out the chicken coop or picking weeds, Oliver enforces the need to do all things with excellence.
A couple of Tuesday’s a month we have Family Fun Nights at different restaurants around Birmingham. Oliver and his wife, Zonia, often show up to support these community outreach gatherings. They enjoy getting to know each and every member of Grace Klein Community.
Over the last year, we have been working on the first community house. The house needed some tender loving care and Oliver has been there to give generously. One night he was heard patiently teaching someone how to measure and cut shoe molding. Even though he hates to hang pictures, he didn’t tell anyone, and he spent a morning helping hang pictures and decorations. One night he stayed up late helping finish the back deck. No one really knows everything he has done to contribute, but he was seen installing doorknobs, floor registers, light fixtures, outlets and switches.
Retirement has opened up time for Oliver to serve and invest in our community. We are so thankful he views retirement as an opportunity to work “for free” on the projects he enjoys. Retirement takes away the payback of money, so his contribution is his choice. And we are better together because he keeps coming back. Today he is investing in many young adults and what they learn from his example can be used at their workplaces and for the good of our community. He is an onsite teacher, a living example of how life is for living, contributing and being all in, as a member of community.