Living Long & Living Well: Inspiring Stories of Creating and Contributing during the Wisdom Years

Georgia O'Keeffe began a "long and golden autumn" of fame and success in her 80s, painting and sculpting and creating well into her 90s. Nelson Mandela was elected the first black president of South Africa when he was 76, peacefully leading his nation out of the nightmare of apartheid. Martha Graham danced into her 70s, choreographing and producing into her 90s. In their Wisdom Years, John Adams co-authored the sagacious Adams-Jefferson letters; Joseph Campbell taught the nation the Power of Myth; Margaret Mead expressed the universality of the human spirit; Frederick Law Olmsted launched the profession of forestry in America; Carl Jung helped the world know the collective unconscious; Walt and Roy Disney demonstrated breakthrough urban design; and Wangari Maathai inspired the planting of billions of trees. John Rosenow, who founded the Arbor Day Foundation when he was 21 and grew it into a million-member environmental-stewardship leader, was looking for models for creating and contributing in new ways as he approached his Wisdom Years. He found an abundance of inspiration in the 10 stories that he shares in Living Long & Living Well. You will also delight in the company of these remarkable individuals--people who did so much with their Wisdom Years, not because of perfect health or lack of challenges, but because of their strength of heart...potential that exists in each of us. This book will change the way you think about your Wisdom Years--and you'll have a good time sharing the lives of some fascinating people in the process.

John Rosenow founded the Arbor Day Foundation for the 1972 centennial of the tree-planters' holiday. The Arbor Day Foundation's million members and partners have planted more than 200 million trees, brought the practice of urban forestry to hundreds of American cities, replanted dozens of national and state forests, saved threatened rain forests in Latin America, and are reconnecting children with the wonders of nature. As he moves into the next phase of his career and his life, Rosenow's intention is to make his Wisdom Years his happiest and most productive yet.