THE TIMES POLL : Most O.C. Seniors Find Retirement Rewarding : Free time and recreation spice what many call the best time of life. But others have health or money worries.

Years of stress, then you retire. No commuting. No child rearing. No boss.

Sure, there are worries: Health, the economy and independence. But according to The Times Poll and interviews, most Orange County residents 60 years of age and older say senior citizenship means time for recreation, socializing and the joys of life.

“When you work, there is still something in the back of your mind that you would rather be doing,” said Milton Adamson, 86, a retired environmental engineer from Laguna Hills. “We paid our debts to society, now it’s time to play.”

A solid majority of county seniors--more than any other age group--are very satisfied with their lives, according to the poll. And slightly more than a third of those 60 or older said their lives are even better than they had expected.

“I’m about ready to quit traveling--I’m sick and tired of planes and airports,” said Eva Londree, 78, a retired legal secretary who lives alone in a Huntington Beach condominium and personifies the active senior.

“Being lonely is your own fault,” she said, “because happiness is within you.”

The Times Poll provided a sweeping look at life for senior citizens in Orange County. Its questions of all adult age groups explored attitudes about old age, health concerns, housing, financial security and social behavior.

It found that vast majorities--nine out of 10--of county seniors are satisfied with their homes and their lives. Similar majorities say they are able to get around town and are seldom lonely.

Also, while thousands of elderly in Orange County suffer financial hardships or health problems, most seniors, by far, describe life after 60 as a time to anticipate rather than dread.

About one quarter of the county’s seniors say having free time is their favorite thing about being a senior, followed by using senior citizen discounts, seeing the family, finding serenity, not having to work and pursuing hobbies.

Retirement “gives you time to pursue things you’ve always been interested in; to do things you’ve neglected, to read all those great books you’ve always wanted to read and, of course, to travel,” said James L. Goddard, 70, of Leisure World Laguna Hills.

Goddard, a former commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, golfs up to three times a week, and he and his wife, Marge, 70, have traveled around the world.

“I’m making up for when I was too busy with work or spending time with the kids,” said Goddard, a father of three. In retirement, “you have the opportunity to play and work at your own leisure.”

The Times Poll, directed by John Brennan, surveyed 1,128 people in Orange County by telephone during five days in December. It has a sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

Those 60 years of age and older were oversampled to provide a larger group for analysis. The sampling error for this group is plus-or-minus 5 percentage points. The survey does not include institutionalized elderly, who represent about 3.5% of the county’s senior population.

The poll found that 84% of the county’s seniors consider themselves financially secure. And almost three-quarters believe that they have enough money and insurance to provide good medical care during a critical illness. That’s nearly double the percentage that gave a similar response in a national poll of seniors conducted in 1990 by The Times.

Those findings are not surprising, given that Orange County’s median income for seniors of about $24,600 per year ranks it near the top 10% in the nation. The 1990 census also indicates that just one in five Orange County seniors suffers from one or more disabilities.

So, for most of the county’s seniors, enjoyment of life is not hindered by health or finance problems, and activities appear wide-ranging.

“The seniors in Orange County, when they think of activities, they think of plays, they think of movies and dining out,” said Lee McCannon, publisher of Senior Highlights, a Southern California magazine based in Laguna Hills. “You have seniors who are going to take advantage of senior-oriented activities, such as a senior center or other senior functions. But in Orange County, I would be willing to bet that will be 20% of the (senior) population--at best.”

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There are slightly more than 300,000 Orange County residents 60 years of age or older--about 12.5% of the county’s 2.4-million population, according to the 1990 census.

The county’s senior population has a sharply higher percentage of Anglo residents than the county overall because most of the increase in minority population has been in younger age groups.

Anglos represent 65% of the county’s population, according to the census, with Latinos the second largest ethnic group at 23%. In comparison, the senior population is 86% Anglo, with Latinos representing 8%.

And while 85% of seniors who have reached the normal retirement age of 65 are not working, 33,027 are still employed, the census shows.

Orange County is an affluent area, but gerontologists say the county’s senior community may be especially well off because some of those elderly who do not own a home or do not receive above-average incomes are forced to move elsewhere when they stop working.

The state Department of Finance, tracking driver’s license records, indicates that there has been a net migration of about 1,000 seniors out of Orange County for each of the last two years.

Of those who remain, about four of five Orange County seniors own their homes. And 78% live in residential communities not built for seniors, according to the census.

The poverty rate for seniors in Orange County is also about 5%, barely half the rate for the rest of California.

And with financial and physical health key components of happiness, Peggy Weatherspoon, director of the county’s Area Agency on Aging, points out that health is the great equalizer in terms of enjoying old age. “When there is major illness, then the ballgame changes,” she said. “It is health that is the predictor of where things are going.”

Still, for most Orange County seniors, the census and poll indicate that their physical condition is not inhibiting their quality of life.

About 91% told The Times Poll they are in good health, about half calling their health “very good” and half “fairly good.”

The health of most seniors is also reflected in an active lifestyle.

Sixty percent of the county’s seniors say they go out for a social activity or entertainment at least once a week--more than any other age group except the young adults between 18 and 29.

Norma Grundy, 62, is one of those active seniors. For now, she still has no plans to retire from her job as a nursing administrator at UC Irvine. “I have loved work every single day and I’m not quite ready to leave,” said Grundy, who has been at UCI for almost 28 years.

But when she does retire, Grundy anticipates a busy schedule.

“I have a couple of girlfriends who say, ‘When you retire, let’s go travel.’ And I say, ‘All right,’ ” said Grundy, who has four grown children and lives alone. “I’ve also thought that when I left (work), I wanted to join the Peace Corps.”

With most senior respondents to the poll emphasizing the opportunities of old age rather than its hardships, the elderly sent a message that old age is better than it seems to others.

About half of adults between 18 and 59 view the quality of life for seniors as worse than it is for other age groups.

Most seniors disagree, with 58% saying their quality of life is at least as good as anyone else’s, including 28% who say they believe that it is better. About a quarter of the county’s seniors say the quality of life for the elderly is worse than for others.

“We love thefreedom of not having a schedule,” Elizabeth DeLamater, 68, said of herself and her husband. “You can work at your own pace; you don’t have to do structured things.”

DeLamater said she and her husband, James, a retired doctor, enjoy puttering around in their small garden, tending their collection of orchids.

“We could never find the time to do these things while we were working,” said DeLamater, who lives in Corona del Mar. “Now we have all the time in the world.”

And in the most basic question asked about well-being, 88% of county seniors report being satisfied with their lives, with 59% saying they are “very satisfied.” No other age category describes itself as so satisfied.

In fact, seniors are far more likely than those between 18 and 29 to say they are “very satisfied.” And just about half as many seniors say they are dissatisfied (10%) with their lives as the baby boomers (19%).

Several seniors who talked to The Times emphasized that Orange County, in particular, is a good place to grow old because of its recreational as well as cultural opportunities. The point was underscored by one of the county’s biggest boosters--and most prominent seniors--Supervisor Thomas F. Riley

“I think there’s an opportunity in Orange County to have a pretty active life in the challenging educational activities, the culture and the normal happy times,” said Riley, 77, a retired Marine Corps general. “I’ve had opportunities to live many other places in the world, and I didn’t take them.”

Times librarian Sheila A. Kern, Times statistical analyst Maureen Lyons and Times assistant poll director Susan Pinkus contributed to the research for this article.

Monday: Health care and independence.

HOW THE POLL WAS CONDUCTED

The Times Poll interviewed 1,128 adult residents of Orange County, by telephone, Dec. 4 through 8. Telephone numbers were chosen from a list of all exchanges in the county and random-digit dialing techniques were used to ensure that both listed and non-listed numbers had an opportunity to be contacted. Results were weighted slightly to conform with census figures for sex, race, age, education and household size. Interviewing was conducted in English and Spanish. Those aged 60 and over were oversampled in order to provide a larger group for analysis; their answers are weighted to their proper proportions in the population when the responses of all adults are cited. The margin of sampling error for the total sample is plus or minus 3 percentage points. For certain subgroups, the error margin is somewhat higher. For example, the sampling error for those 60 and over is plus or minus 5 points. Poll results can also be affected by other factors such as question wording and the order in which questions are presented.

Golden Years: Better Than Expected, DENNIS LOWE / Los Angeles Times

The vast majority of Orange County residents who are 60 and older say they are enjoying life. And about a third say being a “senior citizen” is even better than they had expected. Seniors also are more likely than any other age group to say they are “very satisfied” with their lives. And the elderly are also sending a message: Their quality of life isbetter than it seems to others.

Seniors constitute the group most satisfied with the way things are going in their personal lives:

18-29 30-44 45-59 60 and over Very satisfied 35% 46% 50% 59% Somewhat satisfied 52% 34% 29% 29% Somewhat dissatisfied 6% 11% 11% 6% Very dissatisfied 5% 8% 6% 4% Don’t know 2% 1% 4% 1%

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Among those 60 and older, only one in eight says being a senior citizen turned out to be worse than they expected. Better: 35% Worse: 13% As expected: 43% Don’t know: 8% Numbers do not add up to 100% because of rounding

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A solid majority of seniors, 58%, say their quality of life is at least as good as anyone else’s. All ages were asked: Do you think the quality of life for elderly in America is better, worse or about the same as for most other groups?

18-29 30-44 45-59 60 and over Better 20% 17% 20% 28% Worse 45% 53% 45% 27% Same 27% 26% 27% 30% Don’t know 8% 4% 8% 14%

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More elderly people say they are never lonely than any other age group:

18-29 30-44 45-59 60 and over Never lonely 3% 6% 5% 15% Often lonely 10% 6% 7% 6% Seldom lonely 86% 86% 88% 76% Don’t know 1% 2% 0 3%

Demographics of Age

Census data shows Orange County’s senior population of 304,354 differs by gender. Men have higher incomes than women, but men are also likely to die younger. With regard to ethnicity, the senior population is disproportionately white. The average income of seniors--those 60 years and older--is somewhat less than the rest of the county with 15,241 seniors living below the poverty level, or about 5.1% of all seniors. The poverty rate throughout the county is 8.5%

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Marital status of seniors

Men Women Married 80% 45% Widowed 10% 40% Divorced 6% 10% Separated 1% 1% Never married 3% 4%

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Ethnic composition

60 and 59 and older younger White 86% 62% Latino 8% 25% Asian 5% 11% Black 1% 2%

Note: All other ethnic groups make up less than 1% of each total

Source: Los Angeles Times Poll, U.S. Census Bureau