Retirees in Touch:
Linda Layfield An Adventurer and Traveler at Heart
Linda Layfield first got hooked on Alaska in 1978 when she
took a vacation travelling on the Alaska Marine Highway. “At
that time a person could get on and off the ferry at any port,”
Linda said, “So, I got off at every port, snooped around, hiked,
and met some very interesting people.” With just one little
summer vacation, she was hooked on Alaska. Shortly after
returning home to Portland, Oregon, a position within the
State of Alaska opened in her field, and she jumped at the
chance to return. Over the next twenty years she built a life
in Juneau, working in various roles with students of all ages
and educators in the education community. She spent time
as Director of Community Schools and worked in various
programs with SERRC (Southeast Regional Resource Center)
in Adult Education, Alaska Close-Up, Improving America’s
Schools, and others.
In 2000, another opportunity prompted her to travel on with the
Peace Corps, and luckily retirement afforded her the
means. She said, “I left Alaska in January 2000 to serve in
Uzbekistan as Administrative Officer of Peace Corps there.
Shortly after 9/11 when the United States Government put
in a military camp on the Uzbek border with Afghanistan,
we had to evacuate all volunteers. After accomplishing that
task, I was sent to the Baltic States Peace Corps to close
down that post after a ten-year presence, since the breakup
of the Soviet Union.” The story doesn’t end there. In
her tenure with the Peace Corps, Linda also lived in Latvia
while working in Lithuania and Estonia. She also spent
time in Cote d’Ivoire during which civil war broke out and
all volunteers were evacuated, and she was sent on a
temporary duty post to the Kingdom of Lesotho in Southern
Africa. She finally settled for a few years in Antananarivo,
Madagascar, her self-proclaimed favorite. “I was fortunate
to serve for nearly five years,” she said, “Of the over twenty
countries in which I have lived and worked, Madagascar
is my favorite. The people are so lovely and the biodiversity
of flora and fauna is amazing!” Of the work she said, “I
never had only an eight-hour day. Most were more like ten
to twelve, and sixteen sometimes, but I enjoyed it immensely
and loved the folks with whom I worked in every country!”
With her time in the Peace Corps coming to an end, Linda
returned home to Douglas, Alaska and reconnected with
the landscape, working a part-time job as a hiking guide.
As it happens, the summer proved to be particularly wet,
so Linda was off again, moving with her husband down to
the drier clime of Eastern Washington. “My husband and
I loaded a U-Haul in November 2008, got on the ferry and
headed for Yakima, Washington,” she said. With that, her
adventures in Alaska came to a fitting end as her departure
mirrored her arrival, with a trip on the Alaska Marine
Highway.
During all her adventures and travels, Linda learned some
things about how to make ends meet. One trick she learned
and shared with us, “I stashed money away for retirement
in investments prior to retirement to add to what would
be my retirement income.” And she said of her State of
Alaska’s retirement, “It has given me GREAT health coverage
for which I am very grateful. It has provided me with one
of several sources of income to live comfortably in retirement
and to travel extensively.” Linda’s parting advice to others
interested in an active and adventure-filled retirement is
this, “Start saving beyond what you get at work to
supplement your retirement income.”
These days Linda has proclaimed she has “really retired.”
Not to be slowed down, she keeps busy volunteering at
the Mission to provide support for homeless, raising funds
for her church, and working out almost daily. “I ski in the
winter with the Desert Ski Club,” she said, “I hike all
summer with a bunch of retired teachers, and my sister
and I have loved hanging out with our 98-year-old Mom,
who almost made it to 99 when she passed away this
August! Life is GOOD!”
