“I was a professor of surgery for many years with the University of Tennessee. I used to help people with their weight loss: operating on their stomachs and making them small. It was most satisfactory to see them lose a hundred pounds and turn their lives around; it was just wonderful. I’m retired from that now, so I have more time to do other things I needed to do. I have a family collection of old microscopes, for instance, that I’ve finally gotten sorted out.
“To someone else beginning retirement, I would say: Enjoy the ability to slow down, and get yourself together in a different, more relaxed way. Think in terms of service, of where you can help others, and of the joy you can get from that service. One thing I’ve been involved with for 8 or 9 years now is the Hospitality Hub downtown. I do intakes with people who are homeless, helping folk to --- hopefully --- radically turn their lives around and get out the predicaments they may be in when they first come. Thursdays, my wife and I deliver food to people who are shut in and unable to shop or cook for themselves; that’s through MIFA. Then there are lots of other little things we do. It's all help, and there's joy in that. Whether we help somebody lose a hundred pounds or help get them off the street, it's a way to give. And in giving, we receive.”
“To someone else beginning retirement, I would say: Enjoy the ability to slow down, and get yourself together in a different, more relaxed way. Think in terms of service, of where you can help others, and of the joy you can get from that service. One thing I’ve been involved with for 8 or 9 years now is the Hospitality Hub downtown. I do intakes with people who are homeless, helping folk to --- hopefully --- radically turn their lives around and get out the predicaments they may be in when they first come. Thursdays, my wife and I deliver food to people who are shut in and unable to shop or cook for themselves; that’s through MIFA. Then there are lots of other little things we do. It's all help, and there's joy in that. Whether we help somebody lose a hundred pounds or help get them off the street, it's a way to give. And in giving, we receive.”
George Cowan, M.D.
Professor Emeritus of Surgery at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center
Professor Emeritus of Surgery at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center
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