DEKALB JUNCTION — Loretta A. Thayer's late-blooming career is featured in a new book published by the Penguin Group that shares tales of people who looked age 60 in the face and decided it was only the beginning of what they could accomplish in their lives.
"What Should I Do With the Rest of My Life: True Stories of Finding Success, Passion, and New Meaning in the Second Half of Life" was written by Bruce Frankel, whose other credits include co-writing "World War II: History's Greatest Conflict in Pictures" (2001), a New York Times bestseller.
From 1989 to 1996, Mr. Frankel was the national news reporter in New York City for USA Today. Then, from 1997 to 2001, he was a senior writer at People magazine. His new book is published by Avery, an imprint of Penguin.
"I came away from working on her story, not just with a tale to tell others, but also with some good instructions about how to live this life with purpose and meaning," Mr. Frankel said of Mrs. Thayer.
In 2002, Mrs. Thayer, 77, opened the Silver Leaf Diner. The former Turner's Truck Stop was across from her town of DeKalb home and with the help of family, she purchased the property from Clyde Turner. It had been closed for more than a decade.
Mr. Frankel, who lives in New York City, is scheduled to be at the diner from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesday for a book signing. He said Mrs. Thayer has turned her facility "into a mecca for area pie lovers and a thriving community outpost."
Mrs. Thayer said Mr. Frankel was informed of her late-in-life career when he was doing research for the book and contacted the U.S. Small Business Bureau.
Mrs. Thayer works five days a week at the diner, where she employs five full-time and five part-time workers. She said it specializes in homemade fare, especially pies and soups. She does most of the cooking.
"Her piemaker's tale seems to be a favorite among those who have written or talked to me about the book," Mr. Frankel said. "In this celebrity-obsessed world, it delights me that others have also fallen in love with Loretta, her steely eyed vision, her compassionate and tested heart, and her authentic American values."
There are stories of 14 people in the book, and Mrs. Thayer's story isn't the only north country link.
"One of the chapters focuses on a couple, Barbara and Ira Smith," Mr. Frankel said. "They now live in Acton, Mass., but grew up in the area and met during college in Postdam; he at Clarkson, she at the Teacher's College (SUNY Potsdam). Barbara grew up on a farm in Heuevelton."
The Smiths run Household Goods Recycling of Massachusetts. The all-volunteer agency is the largest provider of direct household assistance in New England. It distributes more than 31,000 pieces of donated furniture to more than 4,000 families in need per year, Mr. Frankel noted.
Other profiled people over age 60 include a woman in California who was voted woman of the year in the state at age 73 for revitalizing her poverty-stricken neighborhood and going on to become the oldest national park ranger at 86.
Another features a man who spent 30 years grinding contact lenses but later chiseled 1,200 carvings on property known as "the Easter Island of the Hudson." There's also the tale of Margie, a housewife who at age 60 began setting records in track and field.
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Mrs. Thayer originally had dreams of becoming a nurse when she graduated from Gouverneur High School in 1950. But she said her husband-to-be, Paul A. Thayer, proposed to her shortly after graduation.
"I said to myself, 'I'm not going to work,'" Mrs. Thayer said.
But she did work on the farm the couple operated for decades. She also worked part-time at W.T. Grant's and the Custard Cottage in Gouverneur. Mr. Thayer died in 1999.
Mrs. Thayer also worked at the diner she owns when it first opened more than 50 years ago. The facility was built by Luella Whitton who purchased land from Mrs. Thayer's father, Glenn E. Minnick, who died in 1991.
Mrs. Thayer said a few key elements have made her business venture a success.
"I believe God led me to buy the diner and I depend on his strengths and leadership," she said. "Also, my whole family has been beside me. Without them, I wouldn't have been able to do it."
But she admits that she does get tired at times with her diner duties.
"But it's a good type of tired," she said. "I'm ready to go back after a couple of days off."
