Rock Stars of Aging Skip the Rocking Chairs

Staying bold and social are key to truly golden sunset years, say experts

Harlene Goodrich (left) and Dorothy Kelly are models of aging well. Above, Goodrich stops at Vernal Fall in Yosemite National Park during a hike to scatter some of her late husband's ashes in 2016. (Courtesy of Harlene Goodrich) Kelly, a retired pharmacist, donates her speaking fees from lectures on historical figures toward the protection of an 18th-century church near her home. Tim Betler/UPMC

If people can age with class, then Harlene Goodrich, 80, and Dorothy Kelly, 91, should be considered aging’s rock stars.

These women—two strangers from opposite ends of the country and the poles of politics—agree on the basics on how to age well:

— Form and reform circles of supportive friends