The Graying of America. In 1980 26 million Americans were sixty-five or older; by the end of the decade their number had reached 31 million. Because of medical advances and a relatively high standard of living, Americans were living longer than previous generations. Indeed, by 1985 the average life expectancy had increased nearly twenty-five years beyond what it had been in 1900, giving older Americans, in effect, a quarter century more than their grandparents had in which to be elderly. Being predominantly middle-class and generally more affluent than previous elderly populations, retired Americans in the 1980s contradicted many stereotypes about the later stages of life, living more dynamically than might have been predicted. While well-appointed retirement communities began to flourish across the country, senior citizens traveled the superhighways in recreational vehicles (RVs), ran in marathons, took ocean cruises, formed and joined new organizations, and continued to educate themselves by participating in.....
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