Retirees head back to work for money -- and love

Sandi Lane Sullivan of Laurel worked as a research librarian for Brookhaven National Laboratory for 22 years, finally retiring in 1998 to a life of reading books and watching old movies.

"It was a treat." said Sullivan, now 66."Then I got bored," she quickly added. "I, as a human being, needed to be with people. I had a husband and grandchildren, but I needed to be around other people as well."

A year after her retirement, Sullivan was back at the lab, working part-time as a consultant, helping to put out a quarterly report on some of the Upton facility's activities.

Sullivan is one of hundreds of Long Islanders who have been retired and returned, at least part-time, to the workplace, either for financial reasons or because they just missed a work environment.

Although there are no figures on how many people say 'no' to full-time retirement, Charlie Harris, a veteran jobs recruiter for Asgard Precision Staffing in Holbrook, said he has seen an increase in retirees seeking to go back to work, and not solely for financial reasons.

"I see more and more higher-end people," said Harris, referring to those who have decent pensions or retirement packages and might not need the extra cash.

One of those was Bob Grable, who retired in 2006 as human resources director in clothing designer Ralph Lauren's children's wear division. 

Getting bored
"I was 60 at the time," said Grable, of Oakdale. He thought he would spend time fixing up his house, which he did.

"Then the winter came," Grable, now 63, said. "My wife was still working. I was bored." He got a few temporary job assignments from a temp agency, but now he has hooked up with what he really enjoys: Grable works as a ranger at the Rock Hill golf course in Manorville.

"I work a few hours a week," Grable said. "The work there involves scheduling [golf rounds] and keeping them [golfers] moving" on the fairways to avoid jam-ups. "I'm not a TV person," Grable said. "I liked to get out of the house."

But saying no to retirement isn't always easy. 

The money helps
James Bean, 70, of Northport, retired in 1996 from BAE Systems, a defense contractor in Greenlawn, where he had worked since 1959, when the company was known as Hazeltine Corp.

An engineer, Bean spent his retirement building an RV-8, two-seat propeller airplane.

"I needed more money" to finish building the plane, Bean said. So he returned to BAE in 2002, only to lose his job a year-and-a-half ago, the result of budget cuts.

Bean is undaunted. "I'm looking for work," he said. He loved his job and loved returning to the plant. "I knew a lot of people there," he said. Retirement, Bean said, was not all that appealing.

Ron Bloomfield, 72, of Syosset, felt much the same way.

He retired from what was then New York Telephone (now Verizon) in 1998, after 28 years, the last 11 as a cost analyst. For the next five years, Bloomfield, spent his leisure time on photography, his hobby, and reading books.

Not even ROMEO helps
He and some friends met for breakfast twice a week. They called themselves Romeo, for Retired Old Men Eating Out. They were all bored, Bloomfield said.

In 2003, Bloomfield took a job teaching computer skills at Farmingdale State College. He kept the job for three semesters and realized how much he missed work.

Now, he works as a consultant, helping out his wife, Long Island Association economist Pearl Kamer, on projects.

"I was bored, basically doing nothing," Bloomfield said.

To be sure, there are those who have to go back to work for the money.

Marvin Kefer, 67, of Massapequa, retired a year ago but is now back working for ITT Systems, a defense contractor, in Deer Park. He had started working for EDO Corp., also a defense contractor in Deer Park, 40 years ago.

"The stock market took a plunge so rather than tap into my 401(k)" he asked to return to work as an engineer, Kefer said.

Even though he came back because of the economy, Kefer said he is not unhappy to be showing up at work after retirement.

"If you added all the positives and negatives" about working again "you would come up with a positive," Kefer said. "It's all about the intellectual satisfaction of solving problems and dealing with the people who contribute to problem solving."