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Be an inspiration to others. Add your story to the more than 70 people profiled on 2young2retire.

Elizabeth Stewart: Navy Teacher
"The older I get the less I want to retire"

Vowing she would "never grade another paper," 58 year old Elizabeth Stewart ended 30 years as an English and history instructor at American River College in Sacramento, California, eager to launch a new career. (As it turned out, she didn't keep this promise, but we'll get to that.)

She would spend the next five years packing in more adventure than many of us see in a life time, including enrolling in and withdrawing from a Ph.D. program in psychology, living on a 33-foot sloop in San Diego harbor -- she is an experienced sailor with over 30,000 blue water miles on small sailboats -- authoring a health column for San Diego Magazine On-Line, camping alone in a van in the West with a trip to Baja, Mexico, to pet whales, and becoming a park ranger intern at Canyonlands National Park. The divorced mother of a grown son has also written many articles on sailing and adventure, two novels, and is the author of Tangles of the Mind, A Journey Through Alzheimer's (Elderberry Press, 1991). "It was my twelve year experience with my mother’s Alzheimer's disease that changed the way I look at the importance of the rest of my life," she says.

Watching the Navy ships gliding in and out of San Diego harbor, Stewart had an idea that would marry her love of the sea with her experience as a teacher. She was quickly hired by Central Texas College which has a contract to provide teachers to the Navy. Soon, she was aboard the USS Comstock bound for the Persian Gulf, teaching U.S. history to sailors and marines. On four different voyages, she taught on mess decks and stern posts, in Ward Rooms and tiny libraries. "The students were very polite, the classes small, the shared living quarters tiny and the noise unbelievable, but I enjoyed doing two month stints and seeing the world." What she hadn't already seen, that is. Previously, she had lived in the Fiji Islands for a year, visited 40 countries, and taught in high schools in Japan and Puerto Rico.

What does someone with salt water in their veins do ashore?  Stewart decided to fulfill another dream, with a stint as park ranger.  As a Student Conservation Association Volunteer (www.sca-inc.org), she moved into the shared housing at Canyonlands National Park and began working nine hour days along side young seasonal rangers. She loved it so much, she decided to put down some roots there.  The boat has been sold and home, when she is not on the high seas, is a 100-year old adobe cottage in Moab, UT.

Writes Elizabeth: "I am still (at age 69) teaching on U.S. Navy warships.  I was in the Persian Gulf and off Somalia for 4 months this winter (2005-06).  So far I've been on 12 ships but I want to try and get on one going to South America.  My park ranger-ing lately has been as a volunteer campground host.  Two summers ago I was the host at the Savage R. Campground in Denali National  Park, Alaska.  Great time there.  I drove up and lived in my little 13 foot trailer.  I still have my cottage in Moab, though it seems I'm gone quite a bit.  This summer I have rented it for 4 months while I go to CA to be with my first grandchild. The older I get the less I want to retire!"

Next Steps

A Master’s degree in an academic subject qualifies you for teaching on U.S. Navy ships. Retired teachers are especially welcome. Contact the Navy College for Afloat College Education.  Kenneth Austin, Associate Dean, Navyatlantic.headquarters@ctcd.edu, ctc-lant@ix.netcom.com, (800)-457-2619, (757) 440-5301.  To contact Elizabeth directly, email: eliz4959@yahoo.com

For more information about volunteer and paid jobs with the parks, check out www.nps.gov/volunteer/index.htm