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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Nation’s Oldest Workers Sought To Make Point

Frank Bartel The Spokesman-Revie

A search is on for America’s oldest workers.

Organizers want to drive home a couple of points:

Ability is ageless.

And employers who undervalue older workers are due for a comeuppance. Elder Baby Boomers are themselves encountering ageism. With their numerical clout, Boomers needn’t countenance this ugliness. They will wipe it out of the workplace and the marketplace.

The quest for America’s Oldest Worker is spearheaded by Green Thumb Inc., the nation’s largest provider of training and jobs for working seniors, in cooperation with the U.S. Labor and U.S. Health departments.

The object is to encourage the hiring of more older workers.

A national winner will be announced March 12 at a first-of-its-kind “Prime Time Awards & Gala” in Washington,D.C.

Meantime, many states are getting into the act. Washington and Oregon are running two contests each, one recognizing the oldest worker, the other the most outstanding older worker.

Montana and Idaho have similar searches under way, says Dorothy Anderson, Green Thumb representative in Great Falls. But in these states, organizers distribute entry forms to likely candidates and employers, rather than publicizing the contest in the media and accepting entries from all comers.

Contest rules are identical for Washington and Oregon.

Candidates in the Outstanding Older Worker category must be 55 or older and work or be actively self-employed in the state where they reside. They will be judged on contributions to the company, skills learned with the company, adversity or barriers to work that were overcome, and community involvement.

Nominees for Oldest Worker must be employed at least 20 hours a week, work at a job site in the state where they reside, and be able to verify date of birth.

Different states vary in terms of contest prizes and awards programs.

Although contest rules initially specified that entries must be postmarked by Dec. 15, Green Thumb’s national headquarters in Arlington, Va., said the nationwide deadline has been extended to Dec. 31.

At Green Thumb regional headquarters in Portland, Jeannie Davis was relieved to get that news. “I just today mailed out the last of the news releases to the media announcing the contest,” she told me Wednesday - four days before time was to expire.

Davis said printed entry forms may facilitate entering but are not required.

In Washington, forms may be obtained by phoning 509-751-9812 or writing Green Thumb Inc., P. O. Box 2017, Clarkston, WA 99403-2017.

In Oregon, phone 503-244-3776 or write Green Thumb Inc., 9115 SW Oleson Road, Suite 101, Portland, OR 97223.

Entries may also be mailed to Green Thumb Inc., Oldest Worker, 2000 14th Street, Suite 800, Arlington, VA 22201. Or entries may be registered electronically on the Oldest Worker page of Green Thumb’s website at www.greenthumb.org/ mediasite.

The contests are not limited to workers in the Green Thumb program. All older workers who qualify are welcome. They may enter themselves or be nominated by an employer, family member or friend.

How do competitors stack up so far?

Well, every state has its favorites, Alice Ann Toole, national spokeswoman for Green Thumb and contest coordinator, told me.

Pennsylvania has a history of producing winners. This year’s hot prospect is Milton Ward Garland. The 102-year-old mechanical engineer works every day at a company where he has been employed for 77 years. It manufactures refrigeration equipment and he is recognized as a prolific father of the modern refrigeration industry, with more than 80 patents to his credit.

“A couple of years ago,” Toole recalls, “Pennsylvania fielded a 101-year-old gentleman who worked in stained-glass and who personally knew Thomas Edison. But all our contestants are such repositories of knowledge and history, heritage and wisdom.”

, DataTimes MEMO: Associate Editor Frank Bartel writes on retirement issues each Sunday. He can be reached with ideas for future columns at 459-5467 or fax 459-5482.

The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Frank Bartel The Spokesman-Review

Associate Editor Frank Bartel writes on retirement issues each Sunday. He can be reached with ideas for future columns at 459-5467 or fax 459-5482.

The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Frank Bartel The Spokesman-Review