Lois Mead retired a decade ago, but she didn’t stop working.

Instead, the former bank vice president now spends 32 hours a week at Douglas County Senior Services, where she is the business manager.

“I hadn’t really any plans to come back to work,” the 68-year-old Mead said, “but when I came in for the interview, I decided, ‘Hey, I’m not ready to be retired.’ I don’t like to play golf every day like my husband does.”

Mead is hardly alone in spending her retirement years at work.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that nearly 20 percent of Kansans over the age of 65 are still in the workforce. And those numbers might well grow in coming decades. As the Social Security debate drags on in Congress, there’s now talk of raising the retirement age to 69 before benefits are provided – one method of keeping the program solvent.

“If you have people working longer, they would have a shorter retirement, collect fewer benefits,” said David Ekerdt, interim director of the Gerontology Center at Kansas University. “They’d also be contributing taxes over that period of time.”

• 6News video: Lawmakers want to boost retirement age to 69
• Goodman: Don’t raise the retirement age (06-26-05)

Perhaps, but it also might make a few people grumpy.

“I look at my grandparents right now, and they’re at right about that age, upper 60s, and I can’t imagine them working a full-time job … because of their health,” said Kelly Zandiehnadem, 28, who manages a women’s clothing store.

She added: “I don’t want to work until I’m 69, no.”

Ready to work?

Retirement at 65 – at least as a widespread phenomenon – is a relatively recent event. Ekerdt said it wasn’t until Social Security came along that retirement was “democratized.”

Lois Mead, right, business administrator for Douglas County Senior Services, talks with Dorothy Rescoe Thursday afternoon. Congress is considering raising the retirement age to 69. Under current law, the age for retiring with full Social Security benefits is 65 years and six months. Mead is 68.

Longer life spans and better health, though, mean that many people are more vigorous during their early retirement years. Some people even worry about getting bored.

“I think I’m going to try to work as long as my body will allow me to work,” said Knute Pittenger, 53, who works for the city water department. “I’ve seen a lot of retirees that have gone home and really lacked purpose.”

But there’s a catch.

“I think if they make job opportunities that are able to support people more available to people over the age of 65, that’s wonderful,” said Beth Meyers, a 56-year-old who works with News TV in Lawrence. “However, if the only thing you can ask after 65 is, ‘Hi, welcome to Wal-Mart and do you want fries with that?’ then I think it’s terrible.”

That might be a problem, Ekerdt said.

“It’s always been that way,” he said. “The younger people want the positions of the old.”

Raising the retirement age will be tricky for politicians.

The AARP is skeptical of the proposal – but not ready to declare outright opposition.

“Certainly it’s on the table and up for discussion,” said Mary Tritsch, a spokeswoman for the Kansas branch of the organization. “But we’d prefer not to go in that direction.”

Rep. Dennis Moore represents the eastern half of Lawrence in Congress. He’s earned a reputation as one of the few Democrats willing to deal with Republicans on Social Security reform.

In a statement to the Journal-World, Moore suggested a higher retirement age is “a reasonable means of extending solvency, given advancements in medical technology and increases in life expectancy,” and it should be on the table.

That would be fine with Alex Martens, 33, a software developer who walked through downtown Lawrence with his daughter last week.

“People are living longer and I don’t want to sit in a chair watching television in my retirement,” he said. “I’d like to keep active and busy.”

But Carrie Wallace, a 24-year-old KU student, isn’t so sure.

“People work for 40 years,” she said. “People need that time to be retired.”