Having fun and celebrating life - a key component of the mission for Park Place Retirement and Brookdale Senior Living.

On July 10, the Park Place Retirement community will host an All American Family Celebration, expanding on their dedication to enrich lives - not only of their residents, but their families and communities.

Simplifying our lives can sound anything but simple, but the benefits can mean less stress and even saving money. Take you cell phone bill, for example. If you see a lot of unused minutes or are paying for features you don’t use, consider something simpler. Some of the major cell phone carriers offer discounted phone plans designed for seniors who may not want all the frills of a traditional plan.

When it comes to putting off retirement, more people are skipping retirement and working into their 70s, 80s and even 90s. Most remain on the job not for the money, but for the personal satisfaction.

Once again Catalyst Magazine is recognizing those in their golden years who continue to make a contribution to the local business community. Our annual 7 over 70 awards honor persons 70 years and older who have remained active in their careers well past traditional retirement age.

Denny Young wanders around the classroom with his dog, Meeka, following closely behind. He leans over and gives words of encouragement to a student who is diligently working the spinning clay. Later he demonstrates how to hand build a bowl out of textured slabs of rolled out clay that he forms in a large metal bowl. After tearing, cutting, and carving a bit, he seals the seams with his fingertips and voila, a bowl emerges with rippled and erratic edges. How it will fire is anyone’s guess and that is how Young likes it. “I don’t like things to be predictable,” he says, “The most important thing about art is spontaneity and what I like to call ‘happy accidents.’ I’m not afraid of making mistakes. Life is based on mistakes.”

Starting with a learner's permit as a teenager, getting behind the wheel means gaining independence and responsibility. But that license doesn't last forever. Eventually, many of us have to hang up our car keys and leave the driving to someone else. The question is, how do you know when that time has come?

It's a decision that nearly every aging American faces at some point in their life -  is there benefit in moving into an adult community. Options include independent-living units for healthier seniors; assisted-living units for those with special needs; or skilled nursing facilities where residents need full-time care, are suffering from dementia, or both.

Every Dec. 7, Americans are reminded of the attack that catapulted the nation into World War II. But for people who were at Pearl Harbor and survived, that day in 1941 is always close in thought.

Forty-two years ago, Jack and Betty Bonzey drove through Idaho while on their honeymoon. They fell in love with the area. “We said we’d like to retire here someday,” Betty says.

Curtis Fackler, the Spokane County Republican Party chairman, started volunteering for his party about 15 years ago, when George Nethercutt, the attorney who handled the adoption of Fackler’s foster children, decided to run for the U.S. House of Representatives.

Back in the 1950s, there was no such thing as a senior center in Spokane.

Older folks who wanted to get together for social activities had to gather in each other’s homes. Because of the sheer number of seniors who sought each other’s company, organizers had to rent a small building in the West Central neighborhood. When they outgrew that space, the seniors found a more permanent home.

Each fall, college campuses burgeon with new and returning students. For some of them, the time between college and high school has been more than just the summer months.

Respite care helps ease the burden. When Patricia McVey leaves the house, she takes her husband Dennis with her. “He is just like American Express. I don’t leave home without him,” she quips. Dennis McVey has Alzheimer’s disease, and Patricia McVey has provided round-the-clock care for him since 2002, something she is glad to do for her beloved husband of 43 years because she would rather take care of him than put him in a long-term care facility.

Retirement communities provide more on-site personal, professional services.

Convenience and choice rule the day in the modern retirement community, where a host of on-site services—from financial and fitness to health and beauty—gives residents everything they might need or want so they don’t have to trek across town.

“It is full service. It is resort-style senior living, like living in a five-star hotel,” says Prokey Arger, co-owner of Evergreen Fountains, in Spokane Valley. “Residents basically have all their needs catered to.”

Pet ownership can have health benefits.

There is a moment of magic that occurs when all the concerns of the day are swept away with the simple act of ruffling the ears or stroking the fur of a beloved family pet.

And in addition to the simple pleasures they provide, pets can have measurable benefits to an individual’s life and health.