Larry Kuzneiwski
The U.S. Administration on Aging, a government agency that advocates for older Americans, has proclaimed “Age Out Loud” as its motto for 2017, offering a way to reflect on how seniors are living lives with confidence and passion while serving as an inspiration to people of all ages.
Lester Gingold certainly qualifies as just such an inspiration. This former advertising executive and marketing specialist, who turned 95 on January 1st, has long been a newsmaker in Memphis. If you recognize his name, it might be because for many years, he was the owner and publisher of The Best Times, a monthly newsmagazine tailored to senior living in Memphis for which he still writes.
Born in Birmingham, Alabama, Gingold served in the U.S. Army during World War II as a combat engineer. In 1945, while stationed in Germany, he says he borrowed a Brownie camera and wound up snapping pictures of the fateful car crash that claimed the life of General George S. Patton in Mannheim. Those historic photos are now housed at the Patton Memorial Museum in California.
Once home, he signed on with Sears as an advertising director and moved to Memphis in the 1950s. During his 34-year career with the department store giant, he rose to become the region’s general merchandising manager. In his down time, Gingold took up motivational speaking, at times sharing the stage with speakers like Norman Vincent Peale, and enjoyed a rich civic life that included serving on numerous nonprofit boards and as president of Cotton Carnival and the Better Business Bureau.
Today, though his mobility hasbecome limited, his mind has not. Gingold’s bright blue eyes still widen with delight when topics arise that stir his passion. Surrounded in his East Memphis home by books and artwork and piles of newspapers (some conveniently tucked into the cushion of his reading chair for ready access), Gingold remains conversant on national and world events.
“I’m probably the only person on my block who receives four newspapers: The New York Times, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, and The Commercial Appeal,” he notes with a hint of pride. His wife Joyce, 92, remains his constant companion, frequently joining him on forays around the city.
His deep interests are not all that surprising if you consider Lester Gingold worked in the publishing world for more than a quarter century — an industry he became involved in for the first time at age 60. After taking early retirement from Sears, he started his second career as a sales consultant for The Commercial Appeal.
“I thought it sounded exciting,” he says with a smile. His role quickly morphed into advertising director of the local daily, and he oversaw a sales staff there until he was in his early seventies.
Did he consider retirement after that 15-year gig? Not a chance. Once he left the CA, he began his third act, partnering in his mid-70s with the Memphis Business Journal to purchase Active Times, a newspaper for seniors published by MIFA (Metropolitan Inter-Faith Association). Several years later, he acquired the publication outright, changing its name to The Best Times and publishing it monthly for another 15 years before selling to James K. Grubbs. As publisher emeritus, Gingold continues to write a regular column that keeps him abreast of the latest issues on aging.
Mention the wordretirement and Gingold still scoffs. “The idea of retiring at age 65 is ridiculous,” he says. “I thought I was no less effective in what I was doing in my 60s, 70s, even into my 80s. It was only in my 90s that I determined I had to make a change in lifestyle.” And even then, the observer senses, he did it begrudgingly.
He acknowledges that as we age, eyesight dims and hearing fades but the mind can still remain sharp for many. “We [as a society] need a greater consciousness to recognize that while older people may have physical limitations, they can still have a viable life.” Gingold quotes part of the Elder Creed written by Zalman Shalomi-Schacter: “An elder is a person who is still growing, still a learner, still with potential and whose life continues to have within it promise for, and connections to, the future.”
By way of example, he points to his wife Joyce, who taught art at St. Mary’s Episcopal School for 40 years, but mounted her first major art exhibition at David Lusk Gallery at age 80. “She didn’t take her work seriously until 10 years ago,” he says. Their daughter Joy Bateman was lucky enough to inherit both of her parents’ talents; she is a highly acclaimed cookbook illustrator and author, as well as a long-serving, successful sales executive for Memphis magazine. (Yes, that’s this one.)
But we all know age does rob us of some activities we hold dear. For Lester Gingold, it was having to give up driving. He found himself unprepared for the “psychological devastation” he experienced this past year in losing his mobility. But what he did next reflects his approach to life: He took the state to task in an opinion piece for The Commercial Appeal.
At age 95, his Tennessee driver’s license would have been automatically renewed. Gingold could have legally remained behind the wheel of a car through age 103 — without so much as a driver’s test or eye exam. The state’s lack of restriction struck him as foolhardy. So he called for reviewing license requirements and creating more accessible and affordable transportation for seniors.
Gingold has always been an idea person, someone unafraid of being bold. Perhaps that trait runs in the family. He tells of meeting Franklin Delano Roosevelt, then the governor of New York, when his mother spotted the governor’s limousine while waiting for a ferry. Rushing up to the car, she rapped briskly on the window. FDR eventually peered out in time to be introduced to 7-year-old Lester. “I wanted my son to meet a future president,” his mother told Mr. Roosevelt proudly.
Gingold summoned the same moxie to meet other notable figures during the course of his life, including seven presidents. While in Kansas City on a speaking engagement, he tells of driving to Independence, Missouri, in hopes of meeting former President Harry S. Truman. Never mind that it was six in the morning and that Truman, clad in a bathrobe, was going out to his front yard for the morning paper. There stood Gingold, hand outstretched. He quickly introduced himself and asked the President (a former clothing store owner) for his advice on selling. “Be sincere and be honest,” came the reply. “And I’d invite you in, but Margaret is still sleeping.”
Although Gingold sold Best Times three years ago, he still writes a monthly column. He pulls out a two-page list of topic ideas he’s compiled that includes ageism, finances, and senior abuse. He’s also amassed 350 books on gerontology that he hopes to pass along to the next crusader hungry to help the public understand the challenges of aging.
What’s an obvious reality people overlook about aging?
The importance of caregiving. Sooner or later, you’ll become a caregiver or you will need a caregiver. Thirty years ago, Rosalyn Carter launched the Rosalyn Carter Institute for Caregiving which focuses on helping people manage this most important task. Perhaps this is also a step towards kindness, the desire to make life easier and gentler for someone else. When someone steps into a situation to provide a nicety for another, it can make them feel good, too.
What is among the most important things we can do to keep mentally fit as we age?
You can’t age easily without good social contacts. It’s important people stay connected with family and friends and get out socially to community events. I often attend concerts at the Germantown Performing Arts Center, but on a recent visit, I was surprised to see fewer people there on walkers. At the last IRIS show I attended, I was the only senior using a walker and I was disturbed by that fact. It made me wonder, did those other people not attend because they didn’t have transportation? Or because they’d become too ill? It worries me because social contacts are so important to healthy living.
Is our nation properly planning for the wave of Baby Boomers now marching into retirement?
The White House Conference on Aging, formed during Kennedy’s administration, existed “to focus on the issues facing Americans as they plan for retirement, care for older loved ones, and work to improve our quality of life as we age.” This three-day conference, which has taken place once a decade, brings together people from around the country to discuss issues facing the elderly and make policy recommendations to the President and Congress regarding life for aging Americans. I attended this conference 12 years ago. It was exciting and through that experience, I made important contacts with people I continued to call on as a publisher after our meeting.
But last year, the White House decided they wouldn’t do a three-day event, shrinking it instead to one day. Delegates were asked to meet in their own cities and bring ideas to Washington. As far as I know, this never happened. Today, the website has a note across the top that reads, “This historical material is ‘frozen in time.’ The website is no longer updated and links to external websites and some internal pages may not work.” Currently, it is unclear what President Trump has in store for the conference and aging Americans. But one thing is certain: If we want to be ready for the longevity revolution, we must plan for it.
Younger people think once the senior years arrive, you can’t make a difference. Your thoughts?
Even at my age, an individual can still be active and do things that make life worth living. One only need look at people like former president Jimmy Carter to be reminded of the meaningful contributions retirees can make. But here’s a more local example.
In my reading, I learned that Memphis has the fifth highest pedestrian death rate nationally. That means it’s dangerous for many of our residents to walk or bike on city streets. We must do more to make our streets safer. In my neighborhood, drivers routinely speed down my street, using it as a neighborhood cut-through. I wrote a letter to the mayor outlining my concerns and then formed a campaign. I needed 75 percent of neighbors to sign a petition saying they wanted speed bumps added to our street. I got 100 percent buy-in. We’re now on the city’s list to get this, which will force drivers to slow down. I know my neighbors will be excited because it will be safer for them to walk up and down our street.
Are there any issues that pertain to senior living that get overlooked?
Yes, I think we need to provide more end-of-life choices that would give individuals compassionate dignity in dying. Particularly when people have limited time left and are dealing with chronic pain. Palliative or terminal sedation is being used in some states. According to an article in The New York Times, “Doctors who perform it say it is based on carefully thought-out ethical principles in which the goal is never to end someone’s life, but only to make the patient more comfortable.”
While there are accepted protocols for treating common illnesses like diabetes or asthma, it is not the case for managing the final days and hours of life. A handful of states — California, Colorado, the District of Columbia, Oregon, and Vermont — have Death with Dignity statutes, but these assist the terminally ill. Bills at our state house haven’t seen much movement but considering how to better manage end-of-life questions would be a progressive thing for the state of Tennessee to do.
