Since retiring from the State of Alaska, Mary Jane Sutliff has spent her time rediscovering her roots in California. As Mary put it, “I do some of my best thinking while pulling weeds. Retirement in California has taken me back to my first love—farming.”

Mary Jane retired from the Alaska Department of Transportation as a Planner for Southwest Alaska. She had also previously served as a State of Alaska Assistant District Attorney. She ended up in Alaska when she was sent to the state to hire an attorney to handle some cases for her employer. She found and hired an Alaskan attorney and later ended up moving to Alaska. After a year, she married that same attorney.

After retirement, Mary Jane left Alaska to return to her home state of California. “Our agreement was to move to California upon retirement,” she explained. After purchasing one third of an acre in Sacramento County, she took a home farming course, joined the Arden Park Garden Club, and recently graduated from the University of California Master Gardening Program. She is also the Director of the Sacramento River Valley District of the California Garden Clubs.

Mary Jane is in the process of turning her third of an acre into a demonstration garden. She has a twenty by fifty foot vegetable garden, water-wise plantings, a small fruit orchard (eight fruit trees pruned to remain dwarf) and a seven-vine grape vineyard. “The abundance of the garden brings birds, bees and butterflies daily. Come visit for coffee in the garden when you are in Sacramento,” she offered.

Mary Jane described what she loves most about retirement in California: “the song birds, teddy bear bees, fresh luscious vegetables and fruit, wineries, the art, the architecture, the politics, the universities and colleges in and around Sacramento, the beaches along the coast, my grade school, high school, and college friends, and my family.”

Besides spending her time maintaining her garden, Mary has spent some of her retirement traveling. One of her trips included walking one hundred miles of the Camino de Santiago in Northern Spain with ten high school girl friends. They also spent a week at a friend’s house in Italy. Mary claims that her time in Alaska came in handy because, “I was the only one who could start a fire!” Mary also visits Alaska frequently to visit her son and friends who still live here. “Of course, friends have visited me in California. I love it when they do,” she said.

Mary is able to enjoy her retirement because of her Alaska retirement and smart financial decisions she made earlier in life. She explained, “Before retirement, I saved using Deferred Comp and I am so pleased I did. It is the account that has the highest yearly interest. I have always been a saver. In the 1990s, while raising my son and caring for family, I became an investor. I was very fortunate to turn my accounts into bonds before the crash. This experience made me comfortable managing money during retirement.”

While her own retirement planning has worked out well, Mary gave this advice: “The one thing I highly recommend to all State of Alaska employees is to educate yourself about managing money while you are employed. I waited until I was forty to do it. I did quite well but if I had started sooner I would probably be able to buy that house I stayed at in Italy!”

If you would like to learn more about how your State of Alaska retirement can allow you to enjoy a comfortable retirement, please contact the Division toll-free at (800) 821-2251 or at (907) 465-4460 in Juneau.

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