.floatimg-left-hort { float:left; } .floatimg-left-caption-hort { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:300px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatimg-left-vert { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right:15px; width:200px;} .floatimg-left-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; font-size: 12px; width:200px;} .floatimg-right-hort { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px;} .floatimg-right-caption-hort { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px; font-size: 12px; } .floatimg-right-vert { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px;} .floatimg-right-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; font-size: 12px; } .floatimgright-sidebar { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; border-top-style: double; border-top-color: black; border-bottom-style: double; border-bottom-color: black;} .floatimgright-sidebar p { line-height: 115%; text-indent: 10px; } .floatimgright-sidebar h4 { font-variant:small-caps; } .pullquote { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 150px; background: url(http://www.dmbusinessdaily.com/DAILY/editorial/extras/closequote.gif) no-repeat bottom right !important ; line-height: 150%; font-size: 125%; border-top: 1px solid; border-bottom: 1px solid;} .floatvidleft { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatvidright { float:right; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} Ah, retirement. A ski bum in winter, a hiker of remote trails in summer.

That’s the life, and one that Steve and Erna Morain enjoyed when he retired in 2008 after 30 years with FBL Financial Group Inc.

Though he planned to dabble a little in business and continue serving on the boards of public and private organizations, at age 62 he planned to fully enjoy retirement.

Plans change, though, and today Morain is an of counsel attorney with the Davis, Brown, Koehn, Shors & Roberts P.C. law firm, where he was a partner before joining FBL, where he was senior vice president, secretary and general counsel, and the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation, where he was general counsel.

Morain is one of several Greater Des Moines business people who have tried to retire but found that the easy life isn’t to their liking.

Meet the unretired

Morain said retirement was a wonderful thing. He and Erna traveled, visiting her family in the Netherlands, Switzerland and Austria, and seeing their children, who are scattered across this country from coast to coast. The couple hiked and biked and skied.

“We had a great time,” he said.

Problem was that Erna remained busy, volunteering and working one day a week as a case manager for the Iowa Department of Human Services.

Steve was busy, too, serving on a variety of boards, but not busy enough.

“The truth is, I got tired of being home alone,” he said. “Being home is not all it’s cracked up to be.”

In June 2009, he returned to Davis Brown, focusing on business organization and transactions, finance and securities, and insurance. Since September 2009, he has served as executive director of the Iowa Insurance Institute, the trade association for the state’s property and casualty insurance companies.

He is part of a three-person team that lobbies the Legislature on insurance issues. You might find him playing a behind-the-scenes role in the gubernatorial campaign of Terry Branstad. And, when the Legislature goes home, he says he would like to focus on venture capital deals.

As for relaxation, you will find the Morains at home watching old movies. They’ll probably still find time to visit the ski slopes and trails.

Work as a hobby

Jack Wahlig was in his 60s when he discovered something that his wife, Ann, had known for a long time.

“I told her I realized my hobby was my work,” Wahlig said. “She said she had known since 1950.”

Wahlig is 77 and officially unretired. He is among a cadre of Greater Des Moines business people who either have no plans to hit a golf course or sunny beach in their golden years, or who tried that life and just didn’t like it.

There is a growing body of statistics indicating that after reaching age 55, an increasing number of people set out on new careers, launch new businesses or simply return to the work force at any job that strikes their fancy.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics says more than 36 percent of people age 56 or older are still working, twice the percentage that were employed in 1984.

Wahlig doesn’t plan a return to retirement.

“I’m a lifer, I guess,” he said.

For Wahlig, who returned to work less than two years after retiring in 1995 as a partner with McGladrey & Pullen LLP, it’s just a matter of doing what makes him happy. In 1997, he took a job consulting for a major health insurer, then launched his own business.

Wahlig said he “did the Florida thing” after leaving McGladrey & Pullen until the telephone rang one day. It must have been a pleasant conversation.

“Ann asked me who I was having so much fun with on the phone,” Wahlig recalled.

He hemmed and hawed a little, allowing that he had been offered a position but not really a full-time job. Knowing what she had known since the day they met, she replied, “Oh, just take it.”

He took the job, consulting for Blue Cross & Blue Shield, then decided to take on something a little different, launching Integrus Financial LC and focusing on mergers and acquisitions.

Wahlig also is a member of the board at West Bancorporation Inc., where he took on the role of chairman after Tom Stanberry resigned as chairman and president of the holding company and as CEO of its West Bank subsidiary in July 2009. The board decided to split the role of chief executive and chairman.

That decision led to another unretirement, of sorts.

60-hour weeks

Dave Milligan, 62, retired in 2004 after 26 years with West Bank, including holding roles as CEO and chairman. After Stanberry resigned, Milligan returned as chief executive of the bank. At the time, he was an of counsel attorney at Ahlers & Cooney P.C., where he could continue to serve clients while also heading for the golf course or Mexico when the mood struck him.

For Milligan, the past year has been a run of 50- to 60-hour workweeks. Though he will step aside April 1, when Dave Nelson takes on the role of chief executive of the bank and holding company, Milligan plans to continue as a consultant during the transition to new leadership.

And beyond that, he is considering offers, including one to return to Ahlers.

Milligan, an avid golfer, might step halfway into retirement, but he plans to remain mostly unretired.

He thought he would be fully retired the first time he left West Bank.

“If it wasn’t what I wanted to do the first time I left, I wouldn’t have left the first time,” he said.

Maybe he missed an alarm clock.

“I love being active; I love being involved with people,” he said.

Prust back on the job

Kevin Prust planned to keep his schedule full by serving on corporate and nonprofit boards after he retired Dec. 31, 2008, as managing partner at RSM McGladrey Inc.

“My wife said I retired for one day,” Prust said.

Maybe. About 10 days before his retirement date, Weitz Co. President and CEO Craig Damos called Prust and asked whether he would serve as the company’s interim chief financial officer.

“I thought the experience would make me a better board member,” Proust said. It would provide an opportunity to see the construction industry close up, and he would work for a company whose roots extend back to the 19th century.

“I thought it would give me additional experiences and skill sets,” he said.

It did and it does. After about eight weeks, Damos offered Prust the job on a full-time basis.

Prust said it should be little surprise that business people just think that retirement is a good idea.

“It’s in their core to keep looking for new challenges,” he said. “It’s inherent in me and I think it is in everybody.”

The work has kept him energized and, he jokes, helped keep the peace at home.

“My wife said I couldn’t mess up her life, so I had to find something to do outside the home anyway,” he said.

Rumors greatly exaggerated

Steve Chapman, 58, only retired in the minds of those who watched and wondered last year when he stepped down Jan. 1, 2009, as president and CEO of ITAGroup Inc.

He stepped aside as part of the succession plan at the company where he had worked since 1974; he had no plans to disappear into retirement.

On the other hand, he didn’t have another job in mind. He considered launching a company that would focus on mergers and acquisitions.

“I really didn’t know what I was going to do,” he said. “I wasn’t worried about it. I knew that I was going to keep working. I spend time in the community, supporting quite a few organizations, so I had some things to keep me busy in the interim. … I was committed to find another opportunity, another challenge to take on. I’m not one who aspires to play golf every day.”

He bought a boat, named it “Chappy,” the nickname given his father, Verlin, and planned to spend a little time cruising the Mississippi River.

In August 2009, Chapman was named vice chairman of Ruan Transport Corp., where he was serving on the board of directors when the appointment was announced. He continues to serve as chairman of ITAGroup.

Chapman said his is not attacted to the prospect of lounging around on a sunny beach.

Still, Chapman said he was not convinced that he would join Ruan Transport full time until John Ruan III suggested he read “In for the Long Haul,” a book about the life of the company’s founder, John Ruan.

“Then there was no doubt,” Chapman said.

Spend just a few minutes with Chapman, and it is obvious that he has been absorbed in the culture and history of Ruan Transport.

In fact, he is very much the image of a driven businessman. His gaze is direct and talks with passion about his new company.

He is as far from being retired as he could possibly get, dealing with issues of over capacity in the industry as the economy struggles its way out fo the recession.

As for the boat, “When I came here, that boat got pretty lonesome,” he said.

Retirement, don’t mention it

Mike Carver, vice president at NAI Ruhl & Ruhl Commercial Co. and a member of the Urbandale City Council, joked that when his former employer closed shop last year he had no choice but to look for another job, saying that his wife didn’t want him cluttering up the house.

At 67, Carver is energetic, fit and never at a loss for projects, whether they concern the city or commercial real estate.

He echoes the sentiments of the other businessmen mentioned in the story. He is involved in community organizations, as well as his private job and elected position. He shows up at his office in West Des Moines ahead of schedule, and he is there every day. The reasons are simple. He is driven to the next challenge, and he enjoys the work. It’s preposterous to think he would retire.

“Retire, why should I? I’m having fun. I enjoy what I’m doing, so what the hell,” he said.