'Best year of my retirement': 70-year-old graduates from welding course
Amid a shower of sparks and the acrid tang of ozone, Allan Robichaud welds metal shards together at a perfect 90 degree angle for his next project.
Although the weld is small, it is the culmination of a year's worth of study and practice in a course that Robichaud graduated from last week at age 70.
"This was the best year of my retirement," said Robichaud in home in Quispamsis. "I felt more disciplined. I really enjoyed it."
Robichaud decided to go back to school at age 69 — making him twice as old as his instructor — after nearly a decade of retirement and 37 years working in corrections at the Saint John Regional Corrections Centre.
"I thought I was done and then it got a little boring being retired," he said.
Robichaud enrolled for welding and metal fabrication with the New Brunswick Community College, but withdrew from the course after he was misinformed about some of the requirements.
"I was told I'd have to be climbing structures and welding from high up, and I don't like heights," said Robichaud. "But a friend said that wasn't the case, so I signed back up."
He said the schedule, classes and demands of the course load brought Robichaud a sense of structure he had been missing in his life.
"I found I was almost getting to the point of being lethargic from time to time," he said. "So I decided I needed something."
Although he doubts he will be back in the workforce any time soon, he does plan to use his skills to "tinker" and "fiddle" to build a variety of things from different sources of metal.
His garage already hosts an intricate fire pit screen with cut-out silhouettes of moose, bear and fir trees. He has also built several "rocket stoves" assembled in military ammo crates, a concept of his own design.
Robichaud says he'd highly recommend going back to school as a "mature student" to anyone. In fact, after graduating with an A average, he says he hasn't ruled out going back to school again.
"I was very pleased that I was asked to do this interview," said Robichaud. "Because if it serves as motivation for other people who are sitting on the fence, wondering what they are going to do with the rest of their life whether they're 30, or 40, 50, 60, or 70 or more, I think adult education is a great thing."
"It frames the mind. In a way it defines you as a person. And it gives you the satisfaction of accomplishment," he said.
