What if retirement didn’t mean stopping?
What if it meant finally having the freedom to choose what you do?
For Jeff Darbee, retirement looks remarkably busy.
At 77, the longtime Central Ohio architectural historian, preservationist, writer and television personality is still researching, writing, traveling, teaching and telling the stories of the places that make Ohio—and the people who live here—unique.
And that makes Jeff a fascinating example of what we’re discovering through Reinventing Retirement: retirement is becoming less about leaving work behind and more about redefining what meaningful work looks like.
A career born from a demolished train station
Jeff’s career in historic preservation began in 1974, when he joined what was then the Ohio Historical Society’s State Historic Preservation Office.
Just two years later, an event in Columbus would change the trajectory of his professional and personal life.
The city was preparing to build a convention center on the site of Columbus Union Station. In October 1976, demolition began on the station’s magnificent High Street arcade.
Jeff went to Union Station. So did another preservationist, Nancy Recchie, a Columbus native who had recently returned from the University of Virginia with a master’s degree in architectural history.
They had met before.
But as Jeff tells it, the destruction of Union Station gave them something much more powerful in common: a shared passion for preservation.
The demolition was ultimately halted by a federal injunction, but the larger story was just beginning.
Jeff and Nancy would go on to spend decades working together to preserve the architectural history of Columbus and communities throughout Ohio. They later founded their own historic-preservation consulting firm, taking on projects ranging from National Register nominations to major public-building projects.
Their work included preservation planning connected with the Ohio Statehouse and the expansion of Ohio Stadium. Public records also document their continuing work preparing National Register nominations and other preservation projects. (Columbus Library Digital Collections)
And, of course, Central Ohio viewers know Jeff from WOSU’s Columbus Neighborhoods and his popular “Driving with Darbee” segments, where he explores the buildings, neighborhoods and places that tell the story of the region. (PBS)
But the most interesting part of Jeff’s story isn’t what he accomplished during his career.
It’s what happened afterward.
“Now I get to do things I want to do.”
Jeff and Nancy eventually began to slow down their consulting business.
But they didn’t simply stop.
Instead, they gradually handed work to the next generation.
One example was their relationship with Designing Local, a Columbus firm whose founders were interested in learning more about historic preservation. Jeff and Nancy shared their knowledge and experience, and eventually the younger organization was able to take on the type of work the couple was beginning to leave behind.
It was, in many ways, a graceful transition.
Rather than simply walking away, Jeff and Nancy helped prepare someone else to carry the work forward.
And then Jeff began to choose.
He writes about railroad history and his experiences riding passenger trains before the Amtrak era. He has worked on books about Amtrak. He continues his television work with WOSU. And he remains involved in preservation and education.
Jeff described the difference this way:
“Now I get to do things I want to do rather than what we had to do to keep the business going.”
That sentence may capture the essence of retirement better than any financial definition.
The difference between needing to work and wanting to work
Jeff doesn’t reject the word retired.
In fact, he considers himself retired—in an important sense.
The difference is economic.
He and Nancy reached a point where they had saved enough and lived carefully enough that they no longer needed to generate the same level of income from their work.
That created something extremely valuable:
choice.
Jeff could write because he wanted to write.
He could work with WOSU because he enjoyed it.
He could pursue railroad history because it fascinated him.
He could teach and travel with students because he found it fulfilling.
Some of these activities generated income. Much of it didn’t.
And that was okay.
The economic pressure had changed.
The desire to be engaged had not.
Retirement as freedom—not emptiness
This is one of the most important distinctions in Jeff’s story.
Traditional retirement is often described as an endpoint: the end of a career, the end of a work identity, the beginning of leisure.
But Jeff’s experience suggests another model.
Retirement can be a transition from obligation to intention.
For decades, Jeff’s work had to accomplish something. It had to serve clients. It had to generate revenue. It had to support a family.
He enjoyed the work, but there were still things that simply had to be done.
Later in life, the equation changed.
He could ask a different question:
What do I want to do with my time?
That question led him toward writing, television, railroads, teaching, travel and young people.
And perhaps most importantly, it allowed him to continue contributing without having to define his contribution by a paycheck.
Staying curious keeps you connected
One of the recurring themes in Jeff’s story is his relationship with younger people.
He and Nancy worked with younger preservationists.
They have taught and mentored students.
They have taken Ohio Dominican University students abroad—77 students over six trips—to study history, art, theology and culture.
Jeff describes watching students come alive when they experience a new country and culture for the first time.
There is something reciprocal happening here.
The older generation shares knowledge.
The younger generation brings new energy and perspectives.
And both remain engaged in the world.
That may be one of the most overlooked benefits of an active retirement.
You don’t stay relevant by trying to be young. You stay relevant by remaining curious.
And sometimes, you know when it’s time to change again
Jeff and Nancy’s most recent study-abroad trip to Rome may have been their last.
At one point, Jeff recalls, they walked 19,000 steps in a day.
They loved every minute of it.
But at 77, he recognizes that what was once exhilarating can eventually become physically demanding.
Still, Jeff’s response isn’t a dramatic declaration that he’s “done.”
It’s closer to: We’ll see.
That attitude is consistent throughout his story.
He doesn’t seem to have approached retirement as a single decision.
Instead, he has continually assessed what works, what doesn’t, what interests him and what he has the energy to pursue.
Then he adjusts.
A different definition of retirement
Jeff Darbee’s story raises an important question for all of us thinking about the next chapter of life:
What would you do if you no longer had to work for the money?
Would you keep working? Write? Teach? Travel? Volunteer?
Start something completely new?
Return to something you loved when you were younger?
Or simply spend more time following your curiosity?
For Jeff, the answer has been some combination of all of the above.
He isn’t trying to recreate his career.
He’s using the freedom retirement provides to create a different kind of life.
And perhaps that’s the real lesson.
Retirement doesn’t necessarily mean that the work stops.
Sometimes, the work becomes more personal.
The projects become more meaningful.
The obligations become fewer.
And success gets measured differently.
For Jeff Darbee, success today isn’t necessarily the next contract.
It’s having the freedom to spend his time doing work he finds worthwhile.
That’s a pretty compelling way to reinvent retirement.