For Seniors : LINDA FELDMAN : As a 71-Year-Old ‘Big Brother,’ He’ll Be Expanding His Family Circle

For Walt Kingsley it’s not enough to talk about how hundreds of boys need a male they can look up to.

So at the age of 71, Kingsley is becoming a “big brother” with Big Brothers of Greater Los Angeles.

“There has to come a time when wringing hands and saying how awful things are must make way for doing something about it,” said Kingsley, the founding president of Independent Television Corp., a firm that packages programming to sell to networks.

Psychologists say the father plays an important role in rearing a child by helping set rules, enforce them and protect the child from harm.

“Bill Moyers’ recent PBS special on violence makes the connection between children who become violent and the absence of a father,” said Kingsley, a father and grandfather. A big brother “can’t be a father, but it’s a one-to-one experience and we do have a lot to offer, especially seniors. I’m not smart; I just lived longer, and there’s something of value there.”

Kingsley, who is retired, grew up in comfortable surroundings in a New York suburb, attended good schools and heeded what his father taught him: Don’t talk, do. And that’s pretty much how he has lived his life. He began by volunteering in his freshman year at Amherst College in Amherst, Mass., tutoring a mentally retarded boy whom he also befriended.

“I know it sounds corny, but there’s something in my soul. It felt good, good. It’s not as altruistic as people think. There’s really nothing quite like that feeling,” said Kingsley, who expects to be assigned his little brother within a month. “And besides,” he added, pointing skyward, “I want to get in up there.”

Kingsley lives north of Cloud Lane in the hills above Brentwood with his wife, Jeanene. It’s hard to believe anyone would want to leave this celestial paradise, but Kingsley keeps a busy volunteer schedule.

His week is divided between the post-coronary care unit at St. John’s Hospital, where he counsels patients who undergo heart surgery--something Kingsley went through himself--and UCLA Medical Center, where he talks to surgery patients and helps nurses with logistics.

He also volunteers on the board of the UCLA Center on Aging, where he chairs the committee on volunteerism. And for the past two years he has assisted Executive Service Corps, a management consulting service for nonprofit organizations, where he draws on his career as general sales manager and founding president of ITC.

As a board member of Big Brothers of Greater Los Angeles for more than three decades, he has applied for a little brother again, 34 years after his first.

“My first little brother was an 8-year-old named Kelly Field who asked his mother to give him a big brother for Christmas,” he said. “I was already sitting on the board of directors and was somewhat amazed that none of the men on the board had actually been a big brother. I always believed you can’t ask someone to do something unless you’ve done it yourself.”

Seniors should consider doing so, Kingsley says, because the Big Brothers of Los Angeles is having a tough time these days recruiting big brothers, who traditionally have been young men.

The group is still reeling from reports in the 1980s that at least five volunteers were convicted of sex crimes against their little brothers. In response, the organization has instituted a stringent screening process, including fingerprinting and a three-hour interview.

Kingsley says that although the screening is effective, it is so rigorous that it has discouraged many suitable men from applying.

“We do such a wonderful job of screening that out of 100 applicants only eight get matched with a child, which is why I’m becoming a big brother again. We need to bring more people in,” Kingsley said.

Founded in 1955 with help from Walt Disney, the Los Angeles Big Brothers group has assisted 8,000 boys. Currently, the organization has 300 boys on its waiting list.

“We’re exploring the ideas of reaching out to retired men, couples and college students,” Kingsley said.

Kingsley has been planning his “retirement” for close to a decade, so when he officially stepped down from his post at ITC last year, he stepped into a fulfilling life.

“I wanted to stay connected, and volunteering means you can’t wait for someone to ask,” he said. “Am I a do-gooder? If someone else said I did good, well, fine.”