Seeing Old Age as a Never-Ending Adventure

Ilse Telesmanich, 90, Tom Lackey, 89, and Charles Smith, 89, on their adventure trips.

By KIRK JOHNSON

NYT

OCALA, Fla. — Ilse Telesmanich, 90, sprained her ankle hiking in South Africa last August. She tried to keep going on the three-week trip, she said, hobbled as she was.

“I got very good at hopping on one foot the last time I sprained it,” she said.

But the guides had unfortunately failed to bring along any crutches — let alone walkers. So Ms. Telesmanich cut the trip short, but she is planning on leaving her home here in central Florida this summer to complete what she started.

Tom Lackey, 89, also continued to embrace adventure late into life, in his case as a way past the grief of losing his wife to a heart attack 10 years ago.

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