{"id":15369,"date":"2024-09-23T11:13:15","date_gmt":"2024-09-23T11:13:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/?p=15369"},"modified":"2024-10-01T15:06:44","modified_gmt":"2024-10-01T15:06:44","slug":"humorist-mo-rocca-pens-roctogenarians-late-in-life-debuts-comebacks-and-triumphs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/fall-2024\/humorist-mo-rocca-pens-roctogenarians-late-in-life-debuts-comebacks-and-triumphs\/","title":{"rendered":"Humorist Mo Rocca Pens \u201cRoctogenarians…\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

For over three decades, Healthy Aging\u00ae has profiled inspirational people who have hit stride in older ages. Through television documentaries and Healthy Aging\u00ae Magazine,<\/em> we have shared intimate stories of well-known and not-so-well-known older musicians<\/a>, rowers, authors<\/a>, chefs<\/a>, hotelier turned sculptor<\/a>, athletes, Shakespearean actors<\/a>, and even magicians who fought back the hands of time to accomplish remarkable feats.<\/p>\n

When we started sharing the stories of these aging pioneers, it seemed sixty was the new fifty. And, to be quite honest, not many people wanted to talk about growing older back then. Aging wasn\u2019t cool and even downright scary for some.<\/p>\n

Fast forward to today, and we are seeing more and more stories of eighty as the new sixty. This trend is the underlying theme of Mo Rocca and co-author Jonathan Greenberg\u2019s new book, Roctogenarians \u2026 Late in Life Debuts, Comebacks, and Triumphs.<\/em><\/p>\n

And who could tell these stories better than humorist Mo Rocca? What makes his book special is not only his choice of both well-known and ordinary people who successfully reached for the stars later in life but the unique observations he shares of their lives.<\/p>\n

Who is Mo Rocca?<\/h3>\n

Maurice Alberto Rocca, 55, known as \u201cMo Rocca,\u201d has successfully peppered his life with dream assignments reflecting his curiosity about what makes people tick and how things work.<\/p>\n

If you are a fan of the NPR quiz show, \u201cWait, Wait \u2026 Don\u2019t Tell Me<\/em>!\u201d or the CBS Sunday Morning Show<\/em>, you probably know him. He\u2019s the guy who always has an interesting take on a story, the refreshingly and cleverly written and presented vignette. Those two credits are merely icing on a career chockful of success stories.<\/p>\n

Rocca is not only a journalist but also an on-camera correspondent, a humorist, and an actor. Born in Washington, DC, Rocca went to Georgetown Prep and graduated from Harvard with a degree in literature. While at Harvard, is<\/span> he was president of and appeared in the Hasty Pudding Theatricals, the oldest U.S. theatrical organization known for its annual burlesque shows.<\/p>\n

Rocca launched his television career working on children\u2019s shows. He debuted on camera for The Daily Show<\/em> as a correspondent, followed by a similar stint on The Tonight Show<\/em> with Jay Leno. Becoming a little more serious, he joined CBS News as a correspondent, still maintaining his talent for pulling interesting tidbits to the forefront.<\/p>\n

For three years (2012 to 2015), Rocca hosted the show that he also created, My Grandmother\u2019s Ravioli,<\/em><\/a> on the Cooking Channel, where he learned to cook from grandmothers and grandfathers nationwide.<\/p>\n

He is the host of The Henry Ford\u2019s Innovation Nation<\/a> and has been so for ten years. The series focuses on visionaries, inventors, and change-makers.<\/p>\n

A fascination with obituaries turned into Rocca\u2019s podcast, Mobituaries, <\/em>where he explores his \u201cfavorite dearly departed people and things.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rocca\u2019s first book was All the President\u2019s Pets, <\/em>featuring White House pets and their involvement in presidential life.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>And Now … Roctogenarians \u2026 Late in Life Debuts, Comebacks, and Triumphs<\/em><\/h3>\n

Roctogenarians <\/em>is a collection of unique profiles of \u201clate in life achievers.\u201d What Rocca has woven together is not a series of Wikipedia entries. Instead, his stories are thoughtful insights into people who have achieved greatness in their planned or unplanned goals a little later in life. Rocca\u2019s anecdotes come from personal interviews, with many of those profiled juxtaposed with those long passed.<\/p>\n

And, in true creative style, like he launched Mobituaries<\/em>, Rocca titles his book, Roctogenarians.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cOne thing everyone in this book has in common: a belief that late life is no time to surrender . . .\u201d Rocca said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not trying to sugarcoat things here. There are inevitable challenges that come with aging, especially physical ones. How those challenges are handled makes the key \u2013 and inspiring \u2013 difference.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rocca cleverly divides the profiles into categories like \u201cThe Writers,\u201d \u201cThe Readers,\u201d \u201cThe Widows,\u201d \u201cArchitects,\u201d and themes like \u201cNo Signs of Slowing Down\u201d and \u201cTurning Loss into Gain.\u201d<\/p>\n

In \u201cFast-Food Legends,\u201d Rocca shares the story of Harland David Sanders, who became known as Colonel Sanders and began his KFC empire at sixty-six, and Clara Peller, at 81, famous for the Wendy\u2019s TV Commercial with the tagline, \u201cWhere\u2019s the beef?\u201d<\/p>\n

The opening of Rocca\u2019s profile on Willie Nelson is classic Rocca: \u201cIt might be hard to believe, but Willie Nelson didn\u2019t always look like Willie Nelson.\u201d Rocca goes on to describe how Willie looked back in the day when he was trying to be a star in Nashville \u2013 short hair, suit\/tie. He then describes Willie\u2019s evolution with his long-braided hair, bandana, and penchant for weed.<\/p>\n

\u201cSomehow, the older Willie Nelson gets, the more music he makes,\u201d Rocca said. He concludes by noting Willie released the single \u201cLast Man Standing\u201d on the eve of his 85th<\/sup> birthday.<\/p>\n

On Rita Moreno<\/h3>\n

Rocca includes many lesser-known tidbits about actress Rita Moreno, but most memorable is his description of how she, at 92, confronted loneliness.<\/p>\n

Moreno is an actress, singer, and dancer whose breakout role was as Anita in West Side Story<\/em> in 1961. Her career included an extraordinary list of roles all the way up to last year\u2019s in the comedy 80 for Brady<\/em>, about four older women who go to Super Bowl LI (2017) to watch Tom Brady. She co-stars with Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin<\/a>, and\u00a0Sally Field<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In 2023, Moreno downsized from the home she had lived in for nearly 20 years to a condo. \u201cI went through a bout of terrible and profound loneliness,\u201d she told Rocca. To do something about her loneliness, Moreno realized she had to make the first move. She decided on the bold move to ask a woman she had seen several times in her local supermarket who had a nice smile. Out of the blue, Moreno asked the stranger to lunch. Amazingly, the woman accepted, although at their first lunch, she did ask Moreno if she always went around picking up older women!<\/p>\n

Rocca chooses the gem quote from Moreno: \u201cI think (my energy) kind of astonishes people. They say, \u2018Ninety-two-year-old people don\u2019t behave as you do.\u2019 At least, that\u2019s what they<\/em> think. It\u2019s not true. There are tons of us around.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Mo Rocca with pony at Old Friends. Photo: Michelle Kessel<\/p><\/div>\n

It’s hard to pick which profile is the best, but Michael Blowen’s profile is one of my favorites. Blowen “retired at fifty-six to help retired horses.” We met Michael Blowen several years ago and were especially impressed with this “Roctogenarian<\/em>” selection. Here is an excerpt from the book with some additional photos from his Old Friends<\/a> non-profit horse retirement organization:<\/p>\n

Michael Blowen and His Old Friends<\/h3>\n

If the Great Resignation taught us anything, it\u2019s that a lot of people are weary of their jobs. Even people who appear successful and fulfilled can reach a point where they\u2019ve had enough. Michael Blowen was someone like that. On the outside, he seemed to have a good gig. A longtime film critic for the Boston Globe<\/em>, he was lucky enough to be paid to watch movies. His wife, Diane White, was a star columnist at the same paper. They lived in a nice neighborhood near Harvard Square, enjoyed a certain social status in town, and made a good living as journalists.<\/p>\n

But Michael wasn\u2019t happy. He recalled the moment back in 1987 when reviewing movies got to be just too much: \u201cThey sent me to a movie called Date with an Angel<\/em>. Emmanuelle B\u00e9art, who\u2019s a wonderful French actor, she had done [the French language film] Manon of the Spring<\/em>, and she was terrific.\u201d But her first Hollywood film was a clumsily scripted high-concept rom-com. The premise: a cosmetics executive living in Beverly Hills wakes up to find that an angel with a broken wing has crash-landed in his swimming pool. \u201cI had one of those Network <\/em>moments,\u201d Blowen remembered, referring to the Sidney Lumet film of 1976. \u201cI actually stood up at the screening and I said, \u2018I can\u2019t take this anymore.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n

Blowen\u2019s editor at the Globe <\/em>wanted to keep him on, so he was moved to the stand-up comedy beat. But that wasn\u2019t any more gratifying. Blowen was slowly realizing that his real passion wasn\u2019t in the world of entertainment\u2014at least not human entertainment. His real passion was the racetrack.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Michael Blowen\u00a0with Lava Man at Old Friends. Lava Man was inducted into National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 2015. Photo: courtesy of Old Friends.<\/p><\/div>\n

That\u2019s right, it wasn\u2019t horses, at least not yet. It was betting on horses<\/em>. \u201cI only liked horses because I liked to drink and gamble,\u201d he said. As a kid he was afraid of them and later on was puzzled as to why Sports Illustrated <\/em>would put Triple Crown winner Secretariat on its cover instead of some baseball or football player. But when a Globe <\/em>editor invited Blowen to go to Suffolk Downs\u2014that was East Boston\u2019s old racetrack, located out past Logan Airport\u2014he warmed to the idea of trying to pick the winners. \u201cI liked the challenge of reading the racing form. It was like playing chess with yourself and trying to predict the future. I liked the betting part of it,\u201d he told me. He also liked the characters at the track, the lively conversation, the beer.<\/p>\n

He soon found himself spending as much time at the track as in the newsroom\u2014and eventually falling in love with the horses themselves. \u201cI never got paid. I [mucked] stalls and I took care of the horses\u201d in the wee hours of the morning, before heading off to his regular job. He was, he said, leading a double life.<\/p>\n

When the Globe <\/em>began looking to cut overhead and was offering buyouts to staff, Michael decided he wanted to make a change. A job offer had come in from a Kentucky-based organization dedicated to saving retired Thoroughbreds from slaughter and abuse. The idea of providing a better life for these racehorses in their homestretch promised exactly the change he needed.<\/p>\n

But Michael still had to convince his wife, the reigning queen of Boston-area columnists, to trade the bookstores and cafes of Cambridge for the pastures and hay barns of Kentucky. (Back in 1984, Diane, a perennial winner, had been named columnist of the year by Boston Magazine. <\/em>The high praise came with a low blow aimed at Michael: \u201cSnow White\u2014she\u2019s the queen of all the columnists,\u201d the magazine noted. \u201cAnd all the rest of the columnists are dwarfs, especially her husband, Dopey.\u201d) It seemed a tough sell. Yet Diane, to Michael\u2019s surprise, agreed to the plan. And so, after more than two decades in the newspaper trade, it was time for Michael Blowen\u2019s second act. In 2001, he and Diane took their buyouts and headed south.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Michael Blowen leading Little Silver Charm. Retired Swan’s Way looks on. Photo courtesy of Old Friends<\/p><\/div>\n

After a short spell at his new job, Michael, at age fifty-six, was ready to start his own farm, one that would be open to the public. Mind you, he had no real money and no backers. But he was determined. \u201cI wanted to have a place of my own,\u201d he told me when I visited him in Kentucky for CBS Sunday Morning<\/em>, \u201cand I wanted to open it up for visitors.\u201d He reasoned that the public\u2019s admiration for these splendid creatures might help to support them in their golden years. \u201cI knew the way people were around movie stars, and I thought of all these great horses as movie stars. And I thought, \u2018If you open it up and people can come see them, it could succeed.\u2019 \u201d The idea for Old Friends Thoroughbred Retirement Farm was born.<\/p>\n

Around this time, a terrible story shook the horse-racing world. A former Kentucky Derby champion, Ferdinand, had been sold for slaughter in Japan. Ferdinand had won the Derby in 1986. The following year he bested 1987 Derby winner Alysheba in a showdown of champions at the Breeders\u2019 Cup. He won Horse of the Year honors in 1987 and was retired to stud in 1989, at which point he ranked as the fifth-greatest money-winner of all time, one of the greatest Thoroughbreds of his era. But when Ferdinand\u2019s offspring didn\u2019t prove to be winners themselves, his stud value dropped. He was sold to an outfit in Japan looking to breed American-style champions. After six unsuccessful breeding seasons in Japan, he was sold again. A few years later, when journalist Barbara Bayer tried to track him down, she learned that he had been \u201cdisposed of.\u201d<\/p>\n

The news hit Michael Blowen hard. \u201cThe idea that you could just toss \u2019em away like that was really grotesque. He was beautiful,\u201d Blowen recalled of Ferdinand. \u201c[By] all accounts, just a marvelous horse. And he . . . he should\u2019ve lived out his life that way. But it\u2019s the same thing with humans. . . . if you can\u2019t generate income you\u2019re vulnerable. And I don\u2019t care what you are, a horse, a human, or whatever it is. If you can\u2019t generate income you\u2019re in trouble.\u201d<\/p>\n

From that point on, Michael dedicated his life to making sure that there was a better fate for the great champions who earn so much money for their breeders and bring so much joy to their fans but are no longer bringing home million-dollar purses.<\/p>\n

Getting started was rough. Blowen, coming late in life to the horse business, speaking with a heavy Boston accent, seemed out of his element in the world of Kentucky Thoroughbreds. In the beginning, he recalls, \u201cI would hear people. I would walk away and I could hear \u2019em in the background makin\u2019 fun of me.\u201d These days, however, no one\u2019s laughing. Old Friends is thriving. About twenty thousand visitors pay each year to meet the veteran racehorses\u2014both the champions and the also-rans.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

These are just a few of the many memorable profiles Rocca includes in his book. If you are searching for inspiration about what the future might hold for you, Roctogenarians<\/em> is an excellent place to start.<\/p>\n

Roctogenarians \u2026 Late in Life Debuts, Comebacks, and Triumphs<\/em> <\/a>by Mo Rocca and Jonathan Greenberg. Excerpt used with permission from Simon & Schuster. Copyright 2024.<\/h5>\n

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