If you want to know where many of the retirees of Los Angeles are, visit the J. Paul Getty Museum. You’ll find them out in force volunteering their time.

From the minute you leave the tram that takes you from the parking lot to all of the exhibits on the museum campus, you are warmly greeted by seniors with big smiles on their face who are genuinely happy to see you. They point you in the right direction, provide thorough explanations about the exhibits, answer detailed questions about the museum and act as security for those who misbehave.

While I watched much of the 65-plus crowd in action, it bothered me that this is the same enthusiastic and experienced group of people the workforce of America no longer has any use for. This is especially true in the digital age where 40 is already considered old.

When Eliot and I approached the main information desk, the volunteer that was prepared to answer all of our questions turned out to be our old friend Julie Feir, one of the most dynamic manufacturer’s representatives in the consumer electronics industry for many years. I suddenly flashed back to 1974 when I first met him. Julie was the brother of S.David Feir, probably one of my closest and dearest friends also from the consumer electronics industry, who died in 1990 at the young age of 72 from a blood disorder. At some point I will tell S.David Feir stories because his spirit and work ethic needs to be documented.

David and Julie looked so much alike that when I was standing in front of Julie, I felt as if I was talking to David again. Oddly enough, Julie who is now 78, looks a lot younger than his years. He also had a sparkle about him that exuded a lot of positive energy.

We only talked for a few minutes because Julie couldn’t take time away from his commitment in the center of things. In that short discussion I learned that he had been volunteering at The Getty for 15 years and is also very active in the community business of Sherman Oaks. He showed us pictures of his beautiful family and quickly reminisced about the experiences we shared together.

We all promised each other that we would get together on our next trip to LA. Eliot and I proceeded to the Herb Ritts exhibit to see the amazing photos of one of the most creative fashion photographers who ever lived. All I could see were the glowing faces of the volunteers in each of the rooms and wondered what they were thinking.

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