Erica Curless

Requests for divorce by older Spokanites have nearly tripled at Gonzaga Law School’s Elder Law Clinic during the first seven months of this year. Don’t blame it on the trifecta of supermoons or our recent whacky weather. It’s a trend throughout the country where divorce among baby boomers and older generations is soaring, nearly doubling in recent years. The trend has garnered its own nicknames: gray divorce or silver divorce.

Irene Gonzales did her milestone 50th birthday so big she landed on NBC’s “Today” show Aug. 8 to share her infectious enthusiasm with the entire country. Like many baby boomers looking to do something extraordinary to mark the big 5-0, Gonzales, the principal at Spokane’s Franklin Elementary, decided to run a marathon on her actual birthday. But unlike most, she was joined by 50 friends she rounded up by starting a fitness Facebook page called Fit Fifty.

It seems like a high school kid is trapped in every aging baby boomer body at the table – rebellious, self-indulged, gossipy, with a giggly interest in the opposite sex. Yep. It’s a planning committee for the 50th reunion of the Lewis and Clark High School class of 1964 and nothing gets them revved up than reminiscing about the “good ol’ days” for a willing audience. “We were raised in the days of innocence,” said Gloria Warrick Spear (née Nauditt), who is the head planner of the three-day reunion Sept. 5-7. She has the gavel to prove it and the glare to shush the rowdy guys in the group as she reads off a checklist of how it was in the early 1960s in Spokane.

For an hour, the group sat in a circle, quiet and still. Not a yawn. Not a nose scratch. Not a twitch. The seniors were all in a state of meditation: practicing mindfulness and being in the now. The new air conditioner rumbled. Something fell against the wall of the thrift shop next door. Yet nobody opened an eye. They just sat and breathed while they listened to a CD by a well-known meditation instructor. Today’s focus was concentrating even with noise and distractions.

Baby boomers are reclaiming the Spokane radio station of their youth: KJRB. In the 1960s and 70s, KJRB was the area’s premier Top 40 station broadcasting the rock ’n’ roll soundtrack for teens and young adults. The format changed over the years, most recently playing classic country. That all changes today at 8 a.m. when Boomer Radio goes live on AM-790.

Marge Holston moved to Spokane Valley from Southern California and somehow left a lot of her activity behind. That’s when she decided to join a gym, hire a trainer and start working out. “I knew I needed to get motivated right away,” Holston said between repetitions on a weight machine pinpointing shoulder muscles. “At 79, I can do everything I need to do. I’m proud of it, man.”

Many baby boomers aren’t ready for retirement – much less a retirement community. And some in this independent and free-spirited generation are indignant about even discussing the idea of someone so young moving to a community of, well, old people. “Too busy working to think about the ‘home’ and my mother says she isn’t ready either,” wrote Becky Christner in response to a recent Facebook inquiry about whether baby boomers are ready for the retirement home.

Al Gilmour stumbled across a gem for bringing together professionals in the elder services industry while on a business trip to Olympia. Three years later, Spokane County has a similar group to network and build businesses and services that specialize in aging while also raising money to help local seniors in need. The Senior Action Network of Eastern Washington has about 55 members, most of whom braved a cold, stormy morning Tuesday for the monthly meeting. It’s a typical networking group with a variety of members from care facilities, home health and funeral homes to attorneys, financial planners and real estate agents specializing in senior transitions. So far this year, individuals have made nearly 300 referrals to other member’s businesses and services, said President Mendy Neff, who also works for Providence Senior and Community Services.

To Ron Spiewak, it’s all about how he looks. That’s why it took some pride swallowing for the veteran and one-time bike racer to embrace a three-wheeled bike that looks more like a recliner on wheels. But today Spiewak, 65, of Spirit Lake, Idaho, knows he has a cool ride – one that he can pedal into old age without worry of losing balance and falling or stressing his neck, back and wrists. He brags about his trike at every opportunity and is excited to promote the Tater TOT (Tricycles Optional Tour) Rally – a gathering of hundreds of trikes and recumbent two-wheelers in Kellogg, June 28-July 2.

Weeds and rocks and more rocks. Not the view Steve Groth wanted to see when he looked out over the 55-plus retirement community where he lives near Nine Mile, just north of the Sun Dance Golf Course. So the farmer did what farmers do: He tilled it up and got to work. For weeks, Groth and about a dozen residents from the Sundance Meadows Gated Community have toiled in the rocky, sandy soil to create a community garden that will provide vegetables and fruit for everyone in the neighborhood including those not able to work in the 50-by-90-foot plot. If the harvest reaps extra food, the community will donate the excess to Second Harvest.

When Lynn Taylor retired to North Idaho, he wanted to raise something fun and exotic, not your standard cows or sheep. He had no idea a decade later his “life partner” would be a 1,140-pound Tibetan yak that he rides in the mountains, drives around in a cart behind his ATV and invites into his home for a few dog treats on the couch. Meet Makloud the Yak, who Taylor raised as a bottle baby after the calf’s mother died.

They say all dogs go to heaven. In  the Inland Northwest, the most special of our canine companions also make it to Pat Adams’ canvas. Adams is a Spokane painter with a giving heart who memorializes cherished dogs on canvas, capturing their big eyes, perked ears and slobbery grins to bring comfort and peace to grieving pet owners. She also paints the occasional cat, bird and most recently a pet turtle.

Writing a book was the best medicine Rita Gard Seedorf could find to help her cope with aging and endless trips to the rheumatologist and optometrist.    But like most epic adventures, Seedorf needed a partner. So she roped high school friend Margaret Albi Verhoef into the project. The women hadn’t spent much time together since graduating Holy Names Academy in 1962, rekindling their friendship while planning their 50-year reunion. Now the women are nearly inseparable after spending 18 months crafting 64 letters that are the basis for the World War II mystery.    The fictitious tale unfolds completely in correspondence between cousins from 1937 through 1944. One cousin is a maid in rural England and the other a female doctor in Spokane. The story features mystery of intrigue and espionage, yes. But it’s really a look at how women on the home front coped during the war. And for local readers, it illustrates how Spokane was impacted by a war so far away.

Bill Pierce accidently stumbled across geocaching while hiking Shoshone County’s Pulaski Tunnel Trail. Pierce wanted to double-check the name of the creek that runs down the ravine before he entered the day’s adventure in his journal. Google found him the West Fork of Placer Creek and included a description of a geocache location, where a cache – or a hidden container – was stashed along the trail.

It is perhaps the most amazing thing Robert Premus has witnessed in his 80 years – a one-day move where he didn’t have to lift a finger or pack a box. By evening, he and his wife, Sophia, were in their new retirement home, which was fully unpacked and arranged with fresh tulips on the table and dinner waiting. This is the whole goal of Pack with Compassion, a Spokane company owned by Deb Fry that helps people – often seniors or people with disabilities – move. But they don’t just pack boxes. Deb and her staff focus on compassion – navigating the emotional rollercoaster of helping people leave their homes, often after 50 years. She aims to take the worry and work out of the daunting process and helps people with that overwhelming question of “Where do I start?”

Arlene Carver didn’t know she loved taking care of people until her mom needed her attention and assistance. Yet she needed a job to pay the bills, so she became a certified caregiver in addition to caring for her ailing mother during her off hours. When her mother died in 2007, Carver decided to keep helping the elderly because it was a connection she enjoyed.

It’s a race for all time as dozens of elderly Spokane assisted living residents keep pace with three baby boomer women pedaling 4,305 miles across the United States – all in an effort to encourage senior activity and combat depression and apathy among the aging. The unique challenge is the brainchild of mental health counselor Melinda Spohn, who directs the Senior Retirement Project – a nonprofit that provides low-cost, in-home counseling to seniors and their family caregivers.

Donna DeVerniero celebrated her 62nd birthday earlier this month hanging upside down from a 20-foot silk cloth suspended from the ceiling. It’s this baby boomer’s way of running off and joining the circus – or at least pretending to while getting an intense core and upper body workout as she flips upside down like a fearless child.

Motorcyclists have their own gang: baby boomers. On a nice, sunny day this spring, when you hear a bike rev, it’s more likely to be an older white man who is a doctor or lawyer, not a young rebel outlaw with skull tattoos and a rap sheet. The sweet spot for the U.S. motorcycle industry is white men in their late 40s and 50s. They are older, wealthier and a lot more mainstream than those freewheeling hippies riding choppers, selling drugs and practicing free love in the iconic 1969 film “Easy Rider.”