Barbara Lawlor, Nederland.  At the beginning of January, Jim Guertin remembers reading a column by the Nederland Area Seniors president Jim Elder, admiring Elder for doing a tremendous job of keeping the seniors up and about.

A few weeks ago, he sat on a bench outside of the Train Cars with his wife Maureen and ruminated about the fact that he was now president of an organization he had just become acquainted with in a town he just moved into. Jim wasn’t complaining; in fact, he is proud to have been chosen for the position and looks forward to learning about Nederland seniors and the town. The diverse ways of small town living.

Jim was raised in Connecticut in a blue collar family and he always dreamed of going to college and studying physics. When he graduated he headed to Texas to work on his Master’s Degree and then his doctorate.

While he studied he also taught to pay off his student loans. Before he earned his PhD. he was offered a job and thinking the job market for pure science was not much good, he joined Texas Instruments.

Maureen, at that time, was a flight attended of Delta and had been born and raised in Dallas. She began working for them in 1970 and says the flight attendant position has changed drastically since then, when she had to wear a hat, gloves and a dress.

Still working for Delta, Maureen attended a Church Singles group which attracted about 300 people.  A roommate introduced her to Jim and they danced the polka together. At that time Jim was engaged to someone else, but that relationship soon ended. He and Maureen began dating.

When the couple decided it was time for him to meet her folks, he stepped off a patio and broke his foot. He says that may have been an omen, but all went well a week later when he was able to meet them wearing his cast.

Jim always liked the mountains and when his sister who worked for CU asked him to come help her find a house to buy somewhere in the foothills, he was happy to visit. She found land in Nederland and began building a house. By this time Jim’s youngest son was attending CU, so he began looking for some land also. He found what he wanted in the Indian Peaks subdivision in 2004 and bought it, not sure what or when he was going to do anything with it.

As he neared retirement, the couple decided to build a house and move up here.

“Nederland seemed neat; it had a little bit everything, laid back and definitely was not your usual community.”

They moved to Nederland last September. Although people told them the winters were rough, they have found that the snow days equal the nice days, but they believe that the worst thing is the wind. They also noticed that when the temperature is in the single digits, it is not as cold as Dallas in 30 degrees. He says he looks forward to snowshoeing, that he hasn’t had a chance yet.

When they moved in, they began becoming involved in the community, joining the Nederland Area Seniors and volunteering in their projects.

“I went to a board meeting one night and someone nominated me to be president and everyone voted ‘Aye.’

That kind of surprised me.  That was five months ago. I think they must have been desperate for new blood. I have a lot of listening and learning to do.”

He says he doesn’t have all the answers but he does have some ideas including a renewing of itself, an evolvement. Although he has a large corps of volunteers, many of them are growing older and are not as active as they used to be. Jim says the idea of him being a senior is evolving.

“Times are such that some seniors are going to have to work,” says Jim. He says there is a communication gap between the younger and older seniors when it comes to social media. He said one of the reasons for the Mountain Midlife events is that it is a transition tool, the younger and older seniors have a nice synergy.

One of the challenges for seniors is the isolation many of them experience, the difficulty of getting to meals and events, to meet people.

“How do we reach out to those who feel isolated, surrounded with young, more active people? One way is to get those who are less limited to help those who are more limited. Society seems to have lost the concept of helping each other, supporting each other.”

After two months of being president, Jim has narrowed his goals and is ready to begin action. He is also going to become active in creating senior housing.

The position of president is a two-year commitment, and in that time Jim says he wants to get more seniors involved and he needs people to step up and help with activities and fundraisers, as well as give the older senior citizens a break from doing it all.

He is just beginning.