It's what everyone talks about, looks forward to, plans for –– retirement.
Many-a coffee shop is frequented by retirees who have chosen that particular spot to meet, have a cup or two of hot coffee and solve the problems of modern society.
Such it is for Maryville's Hy-Vee and four 1963 graduates of Maryville High School. Doug Stickley, Ron Dew, Don Piveral and Doug Keever –– childhood friends and classmates, now retired –– started meeting at Hy-Vee on Wednesday mornings. It was during these encounters when a concept was discussed and is now becoming a reality.
Doug Stickley worked as an engineer at Energizer for 24 years, until his retirement.
Ron Dew was a meat cutter. He worked at Safeway stores and Hy-Vee Food Stores for a number of years, retiring from Tarkio's Hy-Vee about a year and a half ago. Opening a Goodrich Dairy actually brought Dew and his family back to the Maryville area several years ago.
Don Piveral retired after teaching industrial arts 26 years at Central High School in St. Joseph. While teaching, Piveral built homes on the side.
Doug Keever is also a retired school teacher –– retiring after years of teaching art in Stanberry.
As the four friends met over coffee, Stickley said they realized they had interests in common besides their being classmates and childhood friends.
"We all have things in common," he said. "We had come back together and renewed old friendships."
Stickley said they were all just sitting around shooting the breeze when the idea just happened.
"I don't know how it actually came up," he said. "I had owned this property on East 4th Street for nearly 20 years and thought I would like to build a house on it. I mentioned it and said I thought we should build a house together."
The men decided they could pool their skills and put them to good use.
"I like doing things with my hands and have a background in remodeling," Stickley said. "Don's a builder. Doug used his industrial arts skills and drew up some sketches. I looked at the sketches and changed the set-up a little."
And they were ready to go.
So, the four retired classmates are building a house on East 4th Street. The plans are for it to be a handicap-accessible duplex with one bedroom and a one-car garage for each apartment.
They plan to work hard while the weather is nice and get the house roughed in. Then they can work inside during the winter months on the finish work and not have to fight the elements.
"We plan to put the roof on next week," Stickley said. "Then we can slow our pace a bit. We ARE retired, after all."
Although they are working hard, the four men do kid around a bit –– quite a bit, actually. They jokingly proclaim you can't work on this job if you're not at least 64 years old.
"We don't want to sit in the chair and get old," Stickley said. "I have fewer aches and pains since we've started this project, but I'm working harder than I had for awhile. It's wonderful."
With sounds of nails pounding, saws buzzing, one guy said "If it gets nice enough, maybe we can go golfing this afternoon."
Maryville, Mo. —
