Retirement party

I spent a few hours this afternoon at a retirement party for my grandfather, Warren Lincoln, who turns 91 in January. I really wish I had the drive and energy he has now — he jogs every morning, has been working full-time downtown in the mail room at the Indiana Department of Workforce Development for the past 10 years, and comes home each day to work around the house. He went to work early every day, and had so much unused vacation time built up (with no intension of using it) that his boss had to practically force him to take 1/2 days off every week to get rid of it.

Even more inspiring than his drive is his ability to develop a rapport with people and make them smile. It was touching to see all the people stop by and wish him well — from current and former Commissioners to the UPS guy. He’s known for telling everyone a different joke every day (he calls it the “daily funny”), and almost every single person that came to the party wanted to hear one of his jokes. Being a special day, he had prepared a dozen different jokes. Here’s one of his that was quite applicable for the occasion:

Unemployment isn’t working

A crew from Channel 13 (WTHR) followed him around for part of the day and a segment will air on the news tonight at 6pm. Channel 8 (WISH-TV) also picked up on the story and came by to interview him for the 5pm news. Tune in if you’re in the Indianapolis area. If you’re not, I might be trying to figure out how to hack my DVR to get some video up on YouTube.

UPDATE: clips below.