Careers
101-Year-Old Texas Lawyer Named Outstanding Oldest Worker
Posted Aug 5, 2009 5:58 AM CST
By Debra Cassens Weiss
A 101-year-old Dallas-area lawyer is in his law office at 6:30 every morning, working a full day in his real estate and probate practice.
Lawyer Jack Borden’s dedication to hard work has earned him a new honor: outstanding oldest worker for 2009, awarded by the group Experience Works, the Dallas Morning News reports.
“At 101 years old, Jack Borden often gets asked two questions,” the story begins. “What's the secret to a long life? and When are you going to give up chewing tobacco?
“He dismisses the first (‘Not dying’) and simply ignores the second.”
Borden has been the district attorney of Parker County; the mayor of Weatherford, Texas; and an FBI agent. Today he practices law, co-hosts a radio program on Parker County history and serves as a church greeter.
"People ask me why I'm still working," he told the Morning News. "When I was 5 years old, my dad handed me a hoe and said the corn needs weeding. And that's how I got started."
"If I quit, I'll die,” he told the newspaper. “I know people who retire and two years later, they're gone."
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Comments
B. McLeod
Aug 5, 2009 9:30 AM CST
Great story. It would be great to have the benefit of occasional comments and insights from such a senior colleague in posts as well. I wonder what he thinks of what law practice has become today, or why he isn’t an ABA member. I’ll bet there are some good stories there.
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RFW
Aug 5, 2009 3:22 PM CST
This is extremely cool! It’s inspiring to read about someone who loves his work so much that it appears to literally keep him alive.
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DR
Aug 5, 2009 6:15 PM CST
I love this story! It also goes to show that busy, productive people don’t have time to be bitter or to whine…which in this case, probably led to a very happy, long life.
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James
Aug 5, 2009 7:35 PM CST
Great stuff!!!
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Kane
Aug 7, 2009 3:42 AM CST
In before someone blasts him for needlessly holding a job a young lawyer could benefit from in today’s economy, or something like that.
But seriously, cute story.
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Bill
Aug 7, 2009 6:29 AM CST
Hey great, if that’s what he enjoys and finds fulfilling. As for me, if I’m still kicking around at 101, I hope to be hanging around on the bridge of my boat, cruising in the coastal waterways and sipping a mimosa.
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Dan K.
Aug 7, 2009 6:53 AM CST
Great job dude! You’ve spent your entire life on a career instead of family or friends!
No one ever dies saying “I wish I’d spent more time at work.”
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Syb
Aug 7, 2009 7:18 AM CST
Dan - Aren’t you jumping to conclusions about the absence of a family? I think that this man ought to be commended for his work ethic. Kudos!
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Mikey
Aug 7, 2009 7:35 AM CST
Yeah, it is cool that this guy apparently enjoys his work so much that he has kept doing it so long (assuming that is the case, and not that he has to work to keep a roof over his head or something). We should all be so lucky.
But I also find it interesting how older generations of men (generalizing here of course) tend to fully equate what they DO with who they ARE. Personally I suspect that that is not the road to happiness - but to each his own perhaps. I do think it can be dangerous, though, as we saw with the sad story of the DC lawyer who committed suicide when he lost his job because he so identified what he did with who he was that he literally couldn’t face life without his high-powered big-firm lawyer role. In that light, the old guy’s comment here, his belief that “If I quit, I’ll die,” is kinda sad. Like someone above commented, if I’ve been practicing law for 50 yrs or more and I can’t find anything interesting or worthwhile to do outside practicing law, please just go ahead and euthanize (sp?) me.
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B. McLeod
Aug 7, 2009 7:59 AM CST
I have often seen the course of events Mr. Borden references, where a person retires, and two years later, they’re dead. It may simply be that when people don’t really have to get up in the morning, and don’t have anything to keep them active all day, they just fall into unhealthy habits. I suppose it is equally possible that the cause/effect could be the other way around, and that so many deaths close to retirement could be the result of people working until they sense the last leaves are falling.
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Dee
Aug 7, 2009 9:47 AM CST
Work ethic aside, there are a lot of men and women out there who need jobs to pay their mortgages, kids’ school tuitions, etc. Retire already!
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Mikey
Aug 7, 2009 12:09 PM CST
B.McLeod (#10), do you really think it is the retiring that leads to people’s deaths? As in, if they had kept working, they would have lived longer? If so, why? Is there research to that effect? Not being facetious here at all, but that just doesn’t make sense to me. I enjoy the law and my job pretty well, most days anyway, but every day I also see, hear and think about dozens of things that I’d love to do/see/learn about or help with “if I only had the time.” When I retire, God willing (I’m only early 40’s now), I sure hope to have the time and means to do at least some of those things (I suppose climbing Denali will probably be out by then, but I can think of a few thousand other things I’ll want to do.) Again, no judgment of the 101-yr-old; IF working long hours in the law through his 80’s and 90’s makes him happy, more power to him. It’s just hard for me to imagine not wanting to broaden your horizons a bit, or why retiring should lead to an earlier grave.
Seems to me that your latter hypothesis is more likely correct, that people, for a wide avriety of reasons, hold on to their work role far longer than they need to or ought to, only give it up when death is imminent, and thereby lose years’ worth of other life opportunities.
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kasey
Aug 7, 2009 1:21 PM CST
If he is truly happy working like that, then my hat is off to him. But this is not how I’d want to be remembered.
Having seen many colleagues skip family obligations in favor of work and the office, to me this story begs the question: what about his family? Did he sacrifice time with them over the years in order to reach this milestone?
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Amy K
Aug 7, 2009 3:19 PM CST
For Heaven’s sake, people. How ‘bout we all just leave it at this: If it makes him (or each one of us individually) happy, more power to him. I can’t understand commenting on whether his decisions are right or wrong, having absolutely NO insight into his personal situation. And I certainly wouldn’t appreciate random people commenting on how I’ve chosen to live my life when they don’t know my story.
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B. McLeod
Aug 7, 2009 7:53 PM CST
Although, it does pretty much come to that, in the end. Especially if you don’t leave advance directives to stave off some doddering idiot muttering over you while you can’t defend yourself.
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Guano
Aug 8, 2009 12:33 PM CST
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Anonymous
Aug 8, 2009 9:39 PM CST
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Anonymous
Aug 8, 2009 9:43 PM CST
I am very inspired by this story. I have found an area of the law that I love, and I hope I’m still practicing it when I’m 101. (60 years from now.)
To all the people who suggest that he should retire (because they want his job?) Get over yourselves. If you’re good enough, get out there and take his clients. If you’re not as good a lawyer as he is, quit yer complaining and maybe try to learn something from the guy. He’s probably been practicing law longer than most of us have been alive, so no doubt he has a lot to teach.
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Norm
Aug 9, 2009 12:55 PM CST
Where does his business come from at that age? Aren’t most of his clients retired or dead by now? I have practiced real estate and corporate law for 50 years and, little by little, my client base is disappearing. Younger real estate developers and business people hire younger lawyers. Even if you have the desire and skills to continue practicing at age 75, rainmaking becomes difficult.
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Anonymous
Aug 9, 2009 5:46 PM CST
He’s probably done the wills and probate for a couple of generations of the same families. But I wonder if he has some younger (well, I guess everyone is going to be younger than he is) associates? Probate takes a year or more, often. I would hesitate to hire someone over around age 75 for a project like that for fear he would die before the job is done.
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