Photo by Evan Kafka

E Street Ahead of Her Time By Steven Slon, January & February 2008 From the editor's desk...

Modern informality being what it is, most of us here at AARP refer to her simply as Ethel. As in, “What would Ethel do?” She is, of course, properly speaking, not Ethel but Dr. Ethel Percy Andrus, AARP’s charismatic founder, whose trademark eyeglasses, strands of pearls, and matronly wardrobe belied her fierce convictions and forged-iron strength of character. Few are aware that this old-fashioned lady, on top of launching the first advocacy group for older Americans, was ahead of her time on a slew of other issues. Now, on AARP’s 50th anniversary, I’d like to share a few of these with you.

Volunteerism Dr. Andrus lived by her own motto, the biblical charge “to serve, not to be served.” Eleven years before starting AARP, outraged to discover a former teacher reduced to living in a chicken coop, she launched the National Retired Teachers Association (NRTA). Dr. Andrus never received a paycheck from NRTA or AARP.

Equal rights for women Dr. Andrus made history by becoming the first female high-school principal in the state of California.

Lifelong learning While running that school, Dr. Andrus went back to graduate school to continue her education. She would ultimately receive her Ph.D. at age 45.

Caregiving Dr. Andrus retired from her post as principal in 1944 to look after her aging mother. Today in an estimated 18.5 million households, someone is caring for a family member who is 50 or older.

Diversity In a 1916 essay for the National Education Association, Dr. Andrus wrote of the need for every student “…to find fulfillment [and] to find worthy of his respect his neighbor of a different race or color.…”

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Those are but a few highlights. In reading Dr. Andrus’s writings, one also finds her expressing concerns about the high cost of prescription drugs, the need for health insurance for retirees, and even the looming bulge in the aging population. (In the 1960s she told a young gerontologist who was wondering whether he’d chosen the right field: “Stick with it. This is going to be big!”)

Dr. Andrus would be impressed by the size of AARP, today 39 million strong. But I don’t think she’d be surprised. And with due humility, I believe she’d be proud, as well. A lot has changed, but at the core we’re still the same organization she envisioned, and this magazine does its best to embody the spirit of the one she crafted on her kitchen table 50 years ago.

This happens to be the annual issue in which we present our Inspire Award winners. She probably would have humbly turned the honor down, but had the awards been around 50 years ago, there could have been no more deserving recipient than our own Ethel. (Um, that is, Dr. Andrus.)

Steven Slon
Editor, AARP The Magazine
editor@aarp.org

601 E Street NW
Washington, DC 20049