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Cash-strapped Woman, 88, Comes Out of
Retirement in Order to Get By
By Vera Haffey, Missoulian Weekly
June 14, 2004
Chloe Grimm thought the day would never come that she'd retire from her successful real estate business. Once she did, she never guessed she'd need to return to the work force 26 years later at 88 years of age.
But that's exactly what happened to the independent, spirited woman who's used to making her own way in the world.
Until recently, Grimm was living on her Social Security check, like many elderly people. And she was "making it" on her no-frills budget - more or less.
"I was, if you want to call existing, making it," Grimm said.
Grimm spoke recently from her desk in Anaconda's Office of Public Assistance, where she's part of the Experience Works program aimed at providing training and employment opportunities for qualifying senior citizens.
She works about 20 hours each week - a couple of eight-hour shifts plus one shorter shift - at the temporary position. Grimm greets clients, screens and routes calls, answers questions about services, maintains client logs, handles mail, distributes applications and tends to a mountain of documents that must be filed, stuffed and sorted.
Working at the minimum wage of $5.15 per hour, she takes her responsibilities seriously.
"I tell you, those 22 hours, I've got my head down and my butt up," said Grimm, adding that she's not ready for the rocking chair. "Of course, I'm from the old school. When I went to work, I worked."
In her younger years, Grimm was a broker and owner of Boleva Realty in Butte, a business she sold in 1978, when she was 62. The Social Security she earned during those productive work years doesn't amount to much by today's standards, she said, and it's harder and harder to make ends meet.
"My problem is, I'm at the wrong age, and I worked at the wrong time," Grimm said, adding that her highest wage during the 1950s was $325 a month.
"That's why my Social Security is low. The earnings didn't build up. If we sold a $10,000 house, we were living."
Grimm is one of 2,224 citizens over the age of 60 in Deer Lodge County, where the elderly make up 24 percent of the population, compared to about 13 percent statewide. Of those, about 236 are considered to be low-income, with earnings at 100 percent of the federal poverty level, according to statistics from the state Department of Public Health and Human Services.
For a single person like Grimm, that means a monthly income of $776 or less, although guidelines for public assistance vary from program to program, according to Grimm's boss, Tessie Oxnam, eligibility examiner for the public assistance department.
While Grimm prefers not to talk about her finances, she qualified for the Experience Works position by meeting several eligibility requirements including age, residency and income guidelines. And she's come to count on the income, she uses mostly to pay the bills.
A self-proclaimed "old maid" who says she has no family, Grimm is happy in her new job. There she finds herself surrounded by supportive co-workers who say her combination of efficiency; spunk and humor make her a good fit in the office.
"We're her family now," said Donna Graham, administrative support worker for family services. "She's a really crabby old gramma, but she keeps us on the straight and narrow," Graham teased.
Oxnam said the Experience Works training positions may last from three to six months, and after that, Grimm could be transferred to a new training post.
"We dread the day she ever has to leave us," Oxnam said. "It just boosted morale, her just being here. She does a wonderful job, and she catches on fast."
Grimm accepts the uncertainty of the job that "found her" through caseworker Linda Corcoran, and hopes for the best when the money runs out.
"I just fell into it, let's face it," Grimm said. "I'm here until it fizzles, then I'm through."
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