Golden Dreams

Our later in life dreams, inspired by the wisdom we have gained from life experience, can be more profound, offer greater benefits to the world and are often more doable.

Dr. Ethel Percy Andrus, at the age of 74, founded the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP).

Walt Disney was sixty years old when he began formally developing Disney World and the Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow or EPCOT Center in Florida swampland. Disney famously observed, "If you can dream it, you can do it."

Winston Churchill was sixty-two when he became prime minister of Great Britain and rallied the world to defeat Adolf Hitler and the Nazis.

Ronald Reagan was elected president of the United States just shy of his seventieth birthday and restored America’s confidence in itself and masterfully brought an end to the Cold War.

Mother Teresa received the Nobel Peace Prize at age sixty-nine for her work with the poor in India.

At the age of forty-six Dwight Eisenhower was a Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Army (after serving sixteen years as a major), at age fifty-three he became Supreme Allied Commander in Europe during World War II and at age sixty-three was elected president of the United States.

Katherine Graham, former publisher of the Washington Post, won a Pulitzer Prize at the age of eighty for the only book she ever wrote, her autobiography.

Ray Kroc was fifty-nine when he purchased the McDonald’s restaurant chain from the McDonald’s brothers in 1961.

Joe Paterno is eighty two and remains one of the top coaches and educators in college football, leading the Penn State Nittany Lions to an 11-2 season in 2008. Click here to view video Joe Paterno Going Strong.

Who Dreamed To The Last Day and accomplished great achievements in the second half of their lives? Click here to contribute in the Discussion Forum. Selected contributions from the Discussion Forum will be featured on this page.