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Many people can’t wait to retire early. And then there’s 94-year-old Ann Schroeder who worked at the same company for 75 years, crediting her job for her long, healthy life. Schroeder just retired in October from the Davenport Spring Company in Iowa, where she was responsible for bookkeeping and customer service.
She still drives a half-ton pickup truck, lives independently in her own house and loves to go bowling. A bookkeeper by day, she also used to bartend two nights a week at a bar she owned for more than 30 years. Her late husband was a race car driver.
At almost 100, she looks decades younger and calls working one of her longevity secrets. “I really liked my job,” Schroeder, who lives in Bettendorf, Iowa, tells TODAY.com.
“It gave me a to wake up every morning, put my makeup on, dress up and go to work.” She loved going to work every day — “well, not every day, 90% of the time I enjoyed it,” she clarifies — and warns people against staying at a job they detest. “What a waste of life to go to work every day and hate it,” Schroeder says.
“It would be like being in a 50-year marriage if you hated each other.” Here’s what to know about Schroeder and her tips for a long life: Schroeder started working at the Davenport Spring Company in 1949, now part of the Mutual Wheel Company. It sells car and truck parts, and since Schroeder’s father was in the trucking business, it suited her lifestyle.
Schroeder got her driver’s license when she was 16 and learned how to drive a semi-trailer truck when she was 17. “My dad wanted a boy and guess what? I was a girl, so that was the crux” of teaching her to operate the big vehicle, she says. She drove a gasoline semi with her dad for one summer and enjoyed it.
She met her future husband at 19 when he rode up on his motorbike while she was out on a date with another man. Her suitor knew him and told her, “He’s a crazy man on a motorcycle.” When the “crazy man” called to ask Schroeder out a few days later, her father forbade it, worried about her safety.
But her husband-to-be showed up at her house anyway and told her dad, “I’d like to take your daughter to the movies Saturday night and I won’t take her on a motorcycle.” They were married and he became a stock car racer. But her husband died of kidney disease 13 years after their wedding.
Schroeder never remarried. “I never found anybody to pick up with after that. I’ve been engaged a couple times, but it never worked out,” she says.
“I’m too hard to get along with.” Schroeder doesn’t have a special diet. “I eat very ordinary food — vegetables, meat and potatoes,” she says.
“I’m pretty much an all-around eater.” She avoids red meat because she has high blood pressure, so chicken and fish are her preferred protein sources. She enjoys fruit and chocolate ice cream.
One food in particular tops her favorites list. “I’m a great peanut butter lover, and I like to eat nuts of all types,” she says. is an excellent plant-based protein source, and contains healthy fats and antioxidants, dietitians say.
Nuts are a , places around the world where people live extraordinarily healthy long lives. Almonds, walnuts, Brazil nuts, pistachios, pecans and cashews are dietitians recommend. Schroeder loved and still walks, though these days, she uses a cane for balance.
She’s been bowling for more than 50 years, competing in state and national tournaments. She still bowls every week. Bowling is a low-impact cardiovascular exercise that comes with important health benefits, such as improving muscle strength and flexibility, and relieving stress, .
It’s also a social activity that boosts mental health. Schroeder was also an avid boater and snowmobiler. At 94, she says she feels “pretty good” and is in good health.
She's never had heart disease, cancer or another serious disease. She has a favorite line of moisturizers and cosmetics she’s used “probably 90% of my life” and credits the products, plus good genes, for having few wrinkles. When Schroeder recently shared her age with a worker who came to her house, his response was, “94? No way.
Girl, you don’t look it,’” she recalls. Makeup is important, too. “I put makeup on almost every day,” she says.
“I never went a day without. I have makeup on right now, and I’m not going anywhere.” Schroeder says she had a “wonderful time” working for 75 years at the truck parts company, plus owning a bar for 34 of those years.
Work can provide a sense of purpose, social engagement and intellectual stimulation, which are protective against cognitive decline. Women who work for pay have slower memory loss as they age compared to their nonworking peers, one found. “You have to enjoy your job,” Schroeder notes.
“(Otherwise) you’re no advantage to yourself. You’re no advantage to your employer. You’re no advantage to anything because you don’t like your job.
I think that’s a waste of your life.” A. Pawlowski is a TODAY health reporter focusing on health news and features.
Previously, she was a writer, producer and editor at CNN..
