Jobs Program Helps Old Hands Stay Productive Longer : Employment: Some believe work keeps them healthy. And many find that Social Security checks just don’t go far enough.

Henry Peshell is 90, spends 20 hours a week plucking staples from police reports for minimum wage, and hopes to keep working until he is 106.

Like Peshell, thousands of older people know that reaching 65 doesn’t necessarily bring a stroll down Easy Street. In fact, even if they could afford a life of leisure, many wouldn’t want it.

“Even at 90 years I don’t want to retire, because people who stop working die within six months,” Peshell said. “Maybe when I am 100 or 106, I will retire.”

Although some want to keep working, others have found that lean Social Security checks force them to work well into their 70s, 80s and 90s. Social scientists say the trend will continue, especially as people live longer.

That outlook has made federal job programs a necessity, they say. One such program, Green Thumb, was established in 1965 by President Lyndon B. Johnson to employ retired farmers to maintain the nation’s parks and highways.

Today, the program provides job training and minimum-wage employment to people 55 and older, living just above the poverty line. Green Thumb, a nonprofit corporation in 44 states and Puerto Rico, has 18,000 members.

It operates under federal funding and guidelines and is one of 10 national sponsors of the government’s Senior Community Service Employment Program. The U.S. Forest Service also is a program sponsor in Utah.

“Don’t fall off your chair, but I have been in Green Thumb for about nine years,” said Peshell, Utah’s oldest participant.

He has held a variety of jobs, including mail room clerk at City Hall and bookkeeper for Salt Lake County’s Meals On Wheels. Peshell began working at the Salt Lake City Police Department a year ago cataloguing files.

“Then I got a little trouble with my eyes and they decided to make me a de-stapler,” he said, explaining that he removes staples from hundreds of files a week to prepare them for microfilming.

Each day, Peshell dons his uniform: a pale blue shirt, silver star-shaped badge that reads “Records,” and rainbow-striped suspenders. He rides the bus about 10 blocks from his one-bedroom apartment.

“I would rather not drive a car because there are a lot of stupid drivers in Salt Lake City,” he said.

Peshell immigrated from Saxony, Germany, when he was 26. In Utah, he worked as a weighmaster for Union Pacific railroad and later as a clerk at a gas station. He never held a job long enough to collect a pension.

He uses his current $4.25-an-hour job to supplement the $594 Social Security check he and his wife, Ruth, receive each month.

Peshell also persuaded his landlord to reduce his rent from $320 to $220 in exchange for gardening and yard work he and his 76-year-old wife do at their complex.

“The Social Security system is a good system,” he said. “If it wasn’t for that, a lot of older people would be hungry. But it is not quite enough.”

Many in similar situations have turned to Green Thumb.

Claude Heiner, 67, discovered the program after he lost a leg in an auto accident and was confined to a wheelchair. He was unable to continue working as a coal miner.

“I was sitting around the house for two years,” he said, “and that word called depression finally got to me. I knew I couldn’t get back into mining. So I put my application in with Green Thumb.”

Eventually, he landed part-time jobs as an engineer at West Valley City and the Utah Transportation Department.

“It was more or less something to do to get out of the house,” Heiner said. “My wife was going to throw me out or I was going to throw her out if I didn’t get a job.”

West Valley City now pays his salary as a full-time engineer after hiring him from Green Thumb.

“The people . . . seem to bring so much enthusiasm to their job and it’s sparked all of us to do our job better,” said John Patterson, West Valley City manager. “I wish we could employ more people.”

The number of Green Thumb participants reflects Utah’s spiraling elderly population.

Rick Sager, consultant for long-term care for the state’s Division of Aging, says Utah’s population over age 65 is expected to rise 19.3% from 1990 to 2000, contrasted with 11.7% nationally.

“The fastest-growing age group in the entire population is 80-plus,” Sager said. “That’s because people are living longer and they’re living healthier.”

Most Green Thumb enrollees are divorced or widowed women with few skills and even less money, said Ron Burris, regional program coordinator for Utah and Wyoming.

“The hardest-core in terms of poverty and lack of skills is the female under age 62,” Burris said. “I have had several people tell me that, if it wasn’t for this program, they would be living on the streets.

“Four dollars and a quarter is not very much, but it’s enough to provide food and shelter,” he said.

Many employers are taking advantage of the aging work force, said Amanda Barusch, assistant associate professor of social work at the University of Utah and author of a forthcoming book, “Older Women in Poverty.”

“Although senior citizens generally are slower on the job, they have better judgment and use more caution,” Barusch said.

Employers also have found that senior citizens like Peshell are likely to be more dedicated to their jobs and less apt to quit.

“It really is a great program and everyone loves Henry,” said Tami Livsey, assistant personnel director at the Police Department.

Peshell was honored last year at a Utah Jazz game for outstanding service and earned a certificate of achievement from county commissioners.

But he shrugs off the hoopla.

“They make such howdy-doody in the Police Department. They think I’m a king or prince or something. They say, ‘Hey, you’re 90 years old, why don’t you go lay on the couch and take it easy?’

“I always say, ‘No, this is much more interesting.’ ”