The automatic PRPA is payable to a Public Employees’
Retirement System (PERS) retiree under age 60, if retired
for five years or more on or before July 1, 2013, and a
Teachers’ Retirement System (TRS) retiree under age 60,
if retired for eight years or more on or before July 1, 2013.
In addition to the above requirements, a retiree must have
been receiving a benefit in the prior year (2012) to be
eligible for the 2013 PRPA. Eligible recipients, who have
not received pension benefits during the entire preceding
calendar year, will receive a prorated PRPA.
If you meet these requirements or are age 60 to 64 on July
1, 2013, you will receive 50% (1.008%) of the Consumer
Price Index (CPI) change during 2012.
Retirees age 65 or older and all disability benefit recipients
receive 75% (1.513%) of the increase in the CPI. The PRPA
for survivor benefit recipients is calculated based on the
member’s eligibility.
The increase in CPI for the 2013 PRPA is 2.017%.
If you do not meet any of the above criteria, you are not
eligible.
Due to fund conditions, the Division did not recommend
an ad hoc PRPA for 2013. The ad hoc PRPA is defined
in statute as, “…based on the financial condition of the
retirement funds.”
Retirees in Touch: Jeff Babcock
Book Signings, Travel and Family are the Focus of Retirement
Since Jeff Babcock’s first trip to Alaska in 1967 at age 20, he
had been planning to write a book about his experience with
North American mountaineering’s worst climbing tragedy.
It took him the better part of his adult life to complete his
novel, Should I Not Return. But after his retirement from the
Anchorage School District in 2007, he finally completed
and published his work, the story of a young east coast
climber who joins his brother in Alaska to climb Mount
McKinley (Denali). What set their climb apart from those
before it, and even those afterward, was a disaster of such
magnitude that it became known as North America’s worst
mountaineering tragedy.
The book explores what happened after Jeff joined his older
brother Bill, who was leading an expedition on Denali in
the summer of 1967. At the time Jeff was living in Branford,
Connecticut and his brother wrote to ask if he would be a
member of his team. Jeff traveled to Alaska that summer,
and even after the tragedy that followed, ended up spending
a number of years in the State.
Here is a bit of his journey:
I first started writing about my adventure on Mount McKinley in
the fall of 1967, about a month after returning to the east coast
from what was described as North American mountaineering’s
worst climbing disaster, a tragedy that took the lives of seven
young men. The Joseph Wilcox disaster was front-page news in
Alaska, the “lower-48,” and for many newspapers around the
world. I still have a collection of clippings stashed in a manila
folder in one of my desk drawers.
That fall in Connecticut, New England’s autumn leaves were
showing their full blaze of vibrant colors. By the time they faded
a month and a half later, I was beginning my sophomore year at
Nasson College in Springvale, Maine. The landscape turned a
barren gray by Thanksgiving, yet I still remember my excitement
when I discovered a complete set of slides from our Denali climb
had arrived from my brother in Anchorage.
Before the first snowfall, the vivid memories of what I endured on
Denali were once again alive in my mind. As a chilly afternoon
wind scattered leaves across our backyard, I carefully assembled
each slide into a carousel from our family’s Kodak slide projector.
Later that evening, I began relaying my adventure to my mother
and my older brother, Reggie, as the large images clicked across
a barren wall of our living room. This was the first of hundreds
of presentations I would make over the next several years. What
I endured on the icy slopes of Denali was extraordinary and
most people were blown away as my story reached its climax.
My adventure on Denali became a crowd pleaser, and I knew
one day I would write a book about this experience.
After college, I took a position as sophomore English teacher but
after a year of teaching, something was missing from my life, so
packed up my 1967 Pontiac Station Wagon and said goodbye
to my home in Connecticut. I began my second great quest
traveling alone across the states, into the Canada and finally I
forged my way up the Alcan Highway all the way to Anchorage.
Clearly my adventure to the Last Frontier four years earlier
was beckoning my return.
The years passed quickly—after a variety of jobs, new friends
and relationships, and the furthering of my education—I became
a special education elementary school teacher. Along the way,
I honed my skills as a mountaineer and became an assistant
outdoor education instructor in Anchorage Community College’s
mountaineering program.
I eventually fell in love and was soon the father of two children.
Then the terrible reality of divorce came into my experience. Yet,
in spite of this great sadness, my desire to write slowly began to
emerge from the recesses of my mind. While my children lived
with their mother during the school year, I discovered time to
reflect upon the past several years of my life.
My climb up Mount McKinley in 1967 became more than your
average ‘Me-and-Joe climbed a mountain’ story. It was quickly
turning into my autobiography and a story of two brothers who
believed they escaped to Alaska and left behind the shadows
from their past.
After acquiring an agent who spent several years attempting
to sell my screenplay in Los Angeles, I was given the name of a
book publisher based in Anchorage. Evan Swensen was intrigued
by my story, so he encouraged me to transfer the story into a
novelized format. By now, I was approaching retirement from
teaching in Alaska, and my second wife and I decided to move to
Green Valley, Arizona in 2007 to be near her father in his later
years. Throughout our time in Arizona, I wrote the novelized
version of my story.
A novel takes years of effort to complete and I have found it to
be one of the greatest challenges I have ever faced. It has been
therapeutic and became one of the best ways I have ever spend
my time. I am grateful I decided “to return” to the roots of
my beginning. Completing my novel has been one of the most
gratifying experiences of my life. The fine art of promoting a
book to the general public has also proven to be another of the
greatest challenges of my life.
Jeff and his wife Margaret (Peg) now reside in Green Valley,
Arizona. They live with Peg’s 96-year old father to care for
his needs. Jeff’s connection to Alaska is still strong, much
of his family still resides in the state and the Babcock’s still
own their home in Wasilla, which they presently rent out.
They often travel back to Alaska, making at least one trip
each year. Recently, the trips involved book signing events
in and around Anchorage as well as in the Mat-Su valley.
Jeff and Peg work part-time at the local ACE Hardware
store in Green Valley. They maintain a weekly regimen of
hiking in nearby Madera Canyon with its elaborate trail
system, many of which lead to the summit of 9,453-foot
Mt. Wrightson. Jeff is committed to his early morning ritual,
consisting of a 45-minute desert bike ride, which his Scotty
“Jacques” makes him adhere to every day.
Jeff also manages a Web site for his novel Should I Not Return
at Should I Not Return.com. On YouTube, you can also find
videos with more information about the book; just enter
search term “Should I Not Return.” Jeff and his wife still
reside in Green Valley, Arizona.
Please click the Navigation "burger" icon in the top right corner for additional navigation tools.
Click on the "bulb" icon in the main menu at the top to take the Site Tooltip Tour.
For high-contrast version of the DRB site click on the "contrast" icon in the main menu at the top.
The Division Has Gone Social
Find us on Facebook and Twitter
Want to stay up to date on upcoming events, seminars, benefits fairs, and tips for planning your retirement? “Like” our Facebook page and follow us on Twitter. Find the pages at: facebook.com/AlaskaDRB and twitter.com/AlaskaDRB