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By Chelsea Retherford | Living 50 Plus Jamie Lynch and Gil Self know they might seem a tad eccentric for the annual cross-country cycling trips they take. Some trips often stretch hundreds of miles in the summer heat, but the couple said it’s a hobby that keeps them meditative, physically active, and young. “It’s a mindset. You have to be
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By Chelsea Retherford | Living 50 Plus Any given Saturday from September to January, David and Cindy Hall can likely be found in Tuscaloosa, setting up for game day at Bryant-Denny Stadium. If they’re not found tailgating with fellow fans on what they consider sacred ground, they’re most likely on the road following their favorite team to another stadium, or
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By Chelsea Retherford | Staff Writer Lorraine Mills, an 80-year-old volunteer at The Help Center, said choosing to work for free three days a week is a little like hiking up a mountain. When asked what motivates her to continue the climb, her answer is simply “because I can.” “There might come a day when I’m not able to do
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By Lisa Singleton-Rickman | Living 50 Plus FLORENCE — When David “Coach” Williams stepped inside his classroom on the first day of school in August at Mars Hill Bible School, he surveyed the scene with a little different perspective from all the years past. This year marks Williams’s 50th and final year of teaching at the school that he calls
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By Chelsea Retherford | Living 50 Plus Richard Pflueger amicably tapped paddles with his teammate, Don McNutt, and their two opponents, Pflueger’s wife, Jan, and Linda Orr, following the final game of the day one hot Wednesday in June. Richard had barely broken a sweat after alternating five or six friendly, yet competitive games with several other players throughout the
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By Chelsea Retherford | Living 50 Plus While Richard and Jan Pflueger are credited with starting the Shoals Area Pickleball league, and initiating conversations about adding public courts in Florence and Muscle Shoals, Richard said it was Don McBrayer who first introduced the sport to north Alabama students in the early 1970s. McBrayer, professor emeritus of Physical Education at the
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By Chelsea Retherford | Living 50 Plus At 53 years old, Lori McGuire said she feels more physically fit than she has ever felt in her life, but she couldn’t say that two years ago. A teacher, a caretaker, and a mom of three, she said she was used to putting everyone else’s needs before her own for years. “I
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