Caine: Late-in-life achievements an inspiration

Some years back, a National Geographic TV special featured Norman Vaughn, who traveled in 1928-29 to the South Pole with Adm. Richard Byrd. Although he was warned against allowing his sense of adventure to get in the way of becoming a successful businessman, Vaughn couldn't get adventure out of his system, and lived an outdoorsman's life.

At 81, he competed in the Iditarod sled race across Alaska, and at 86 he decided to return to Antarctica to climb Mt. Vaughn, a peak named after him in honor of his earlier trip with Byrd.

This second trip proved to be daunting. Training, muscle building, increasing his stamina were all difficult. Building his bank account for the trip proved even more so. On his first attempt, he met with defeat - not enough money, a plane crash that injured a crew member, the worst summer weather ever experienced in Antarctica. He returned home without climbing his mountain.

But he didn't give up. At the age of 87, he continued his training, climbing apartment stairs with a weighted backpack while wearing his heavy snow boots.

Finally, just short of his 89th birthday, Norman Vaughn stood atop Mt. Vaughn and he told his younger friends who celebrated around him, "Always think big and never be afraid to fail."

There are many stories of late-life success. Winston Churchill became prime minister of England for the last time at age 77.

Grandma Moses started painting at 79. Michelangelo still was sculpting until the week before he died at 98. Albert Schweitzer, at 90, still was working with lepers in Lambarene. Irving Berlin, who wrote "White Christmas" and "God Bless America," never stopped making music and said he'd always ask himself, "Are you going to be a crabby old man or are you going to write another song?"

Each of us probably knows someone who enthusiastically lives and enjoys every day God has given them - folks who continue to keep house, garden, drive, teach Sunday school, read the newspaper, travel, serve, volunteer and find a