The Unfinished Business of Wally Funk
I love reading and writing stories about retirement rebels people who are shattering the limits of how people their age should act and look like. It's even better when the story is about a women.
Wally Funk should have been to space by now.
In 1961, she was the youngest member of the “Mercury 13,” a group of 13 women tested and trained for NASA’s astronaut program at the height of the space race. But she was denied a spot four times because of the discriminatory policies preventing women from becoming astronauts even though she had passed the same grueling physical and psychological tests as her male counterparts.
“They told me that I had done better and completed the work faster than any of the guys,” Ms. Funk said. They said, “Well, you’re a girl, you can’t do that,” she recalled, “I said – guess what? Doesn’t matter what you are, you can still do it if you want to do it and I like to do things that nobody’s ever done.”
Writing this post reminded me of the time when women were denied the right to run the marathon. But things changed when Kathrine Switzer managed to sneak on the Boston marathon course in 1967 and showed that women had the “right stuff.”
Because of women like Katherine the women’s marathon was added to the Olympics in 1984 almost ninety years after the men’s event.
Retirement rebels like Funk are changing how people are thinking about longevity and retirement. Women flying into space at age 82 isn’t supposed to be happening but it is.
Retirement Rebels like Funk make us all feel fearless. They are changing the social fabric by breaking down barriers of limitations and showing us what is possible in retirement.
We have been brainwashed into believing that people aren’t supposed to be celebrating their 100th birthday by going skydiving, or going into space at age 82, or attempting an Ironman in their 80’s or starting a new business in their 70’s or going back and finishing that degree they never finished in their 90’s but they are and they are the people having fun in retirement.
Retirement Rebels like Funk remain kids at heart, living on the edge, exploring their potential, travelling to new places, meeting new people, learning new technology, entering marathons in different countries and posting all about in on social media.
On July 20th, 2021 Funk at age 82 fulfilled her lifelong dream of flying to space aboard Jeff Bezos’s “Blue Origin” launched July 20th, the anniversary of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin’s Apollo 11 moon landing in 1969. She will become the oldest person to go into space beating the record held by John Glen who went on a space shuttle flight at age 77.
You just got to love these Retirement Rebels!
Watch Wally's excitement in the following video as she prepares to go to space;
About the author
Mike Drak is the Author of the best-selling book Victory Lap Retirement and Retirement Heaven or Hell - Which Will You Choose. Along with being an Author, Mike is also an award winning blogger, retirement coach and public speaker and has made appearances on BNN, CBC Radio and iHeart radio. He is a thirty-eight year veteran of the financial services industry and lives with his wife Melina in Toronto, Canada. You can contact Mike through LinkedIn.
