The Sun Sunnyvale's Newspaper Photograph by Skye Dunlap Dan Browman's croutons are a favorite among Wild Oats Market's patrons. Working in the golden years By JUSTIN BERTON Dan Browman once helped build a highway to Alaska, but currently he's more popular in Sunnyvale for his seasoned croutons. The 79-year-old World War II veteran has worked at the Wild Oats Market at Fremont and Mary avenues since it opened two years ago, and has quickly become a favorite of the staff and with customers. "Customers come in looking for them," confirmed deli manager Pauline Handy, speaking of Browman's specialty cheese croutons. "The secret is not to cook them too long," Browman offered, adding that a special seasoning was also required. "If you cook them too long, you'll hurt the people's teeth. And then they'll be aggravated." Making people feel the opposite of aggravated seems to be the charm of Browman, and others like him. Browman represents one of thousands of local senior citizens who, for varying reasons, continue to work well beyond age 65, the commonly accepted age of retirement. Paul Issacs, the deputy director of the non-profit Santa Clara County Council on Aging, said working beyond 65 for many seniors is becoming a more common occurrence. "Only 10 or 15 percent of retirees are the ones who spend their time on cruises and traveling," Issacs said. "The rest of us spend our time working or volunteering." Issacs hypothesized several reasons for the work-beyond-retirement occurrence. "Could be downsizing from the corporations today, could be that the cost of living is forcing people to work longer, or, sometimes people look at retirement and just say, 'It's not all it's cracked up to be. I'm bored.'" Issacs also said employers are smart to choose seniors for employees for two reasons: experience and reliability. "Often times," Issacs said, "younger people are going to be looking around for jobs, for growth -- as they should be. But older people are not looking for a career. They've already had one." For Browman, he's worked most of his life as a chef -- at one point owning George's Restaurant in Menlo Park -- but only after World War II. During the war, Browman and other selected engineers were stationed in Canada to build a freeway connecting Alaska to the United States. "We had four different regiments 500 miles apart," Browman recalled. "We had to get them all connected." The result was 2,000 miles of asphalt that is now called, "The Alaskan Highway." Browman also served in Europe where he continued one of his other hobbies, taking photographs. Browman has bundles of black and white photos to show from his years in Canada, but few from Europe. He said twenty rolls of his photos were left behind in Belgium when he was forced to flee from the Nazis on a moments notice. "Anybody who took something they didn't need," Browman said, "would have been in big trouble." Now, despite co-workers claims that he has a playful eye for "any beautiful lady that needs help" at the deli counter, Browman has avoided getting into trouble since working at Wild Oats Market. Handy said having Browman's life experience, charm, and strong work ethic behind the counter has made life at the deli a positive experience. "He amazes me that at his age he works so hard," Handy said. "My other workers can sometimes drift off, but George stays there and works, works, works. It's amazing." [ Back to Contents Page | Sunnyvale Sun Home Page | Archives ] This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, November 4, 1998. ©1998 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.