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By Carrie Wolfe, Staff Writer
Perceiving retirement as long days spent lounging in a muumuu and treading barefoot on a remote island may be a slight over-generalization.
To Annie Coleman, at least, that idea of 'life after life' is laughable - so much so that you wouldn't even know she's retired.
And don't call her old - the 73-year-old seems younger than most folks half her junior.
"I'm very young in my mind, and I don't want to sit in no rocking chair," she said. "I keep busy because I like it. It gives me a purpose for my life."
Coleman recently was selected as Lemont's Citizen of the Year, an award that caught her off guard - but one for which she was perfectly suited.
"I was very surprised and very proud," she said of the dinner and ceremony she thought she was attending for a friend who was running for the village board. "I was so embarrassed; everybody knew (about the award) but me."
For four years, Coleman has visited three nursing homes in Lemont and Crestwood three times a week, as well as a local hospice care center.
She always takes her poodle, Baby, whom she adopted 10 years ago from a shelter, when she visits the patients for what she calls her "Pet and Annie Therapy Program."
"Half of them don't know my name, but they know Baby," she said jokingly.
One patient told Coleman that when she sees Baby, "all my aches and pains go away."
"We don't have a time limit," Coleman said of her visits. "We don't just see certain people. We go through the entire facilities."
Consider the super-volunteer's laundry list of activity: She volunteers for the Lemont Park District, the Village Safety Commission, Meals on Wheels, the beautification program of the Friendship Garden along the Illinois & Michigan Canal bike path, the Heritage Festival and the Lemont Area Historical Society - to name a few.
She also raises funds for the T.L.C. Animal Shelter and participates in golf outings to raise money for breast cancer research. She helps handicapped children at Little Friends in Naperville and gives time to the local soup kitchen.
"This is my theory about volunteering: When you volunteer, you make two people happy - the person you're doing it for and yourself," she said.
Coleman also received an "Outstanding Citizen" plaque from state Rep. Jim Meyer (R-Bolingbrook) when she received the Lemont award.
Where does she find her energy?
"It's genetic; my mother was a very healthy lady," she said.
Her work, however, also is therapy.
Her son died when he was 20, and her husband died 19 years ago. She also has lost a sister and both parents.
"I could write a book on grief, but you can't dwell on that stuff," she said. "Nobody wants (to be around) a crab.
"... There must be a reason why I'm still here," she said. "I must be doing God's work, with helping everybody that I can."
Coleman was raised in Chicago, married at 18 and moved to Carpentersville. Twenty-five years ago, her husband's job moved to Willow Springs, and the couple moved to Lemont.
She worked in real estate until retiring at 65.
As she got older, she said, her priorities shifted. She wanted to get out and enjoy life.
"I would get up every day, run 6 miles, walk the dog for an hour and get ready and go to work. And one day (before retirement), I said, 'I quit.' "
When she got her first Social Security check, she told herself, " 'I'm just going to do anything I can for anybody.' " she said. "They know that anytime they need me, I'm there to help."
Coleman has numerous local awards for 5- and 10-K races in her younger years. She ran every day until recently, when she began kick boxing.
Now, she fills her calendar with friends and volunteer work, and she's rarely seen without Baby.
"This animal is the love of my life; she's like a child," she said. "(People) won't know who I am without the dog."
Coleman adopted Baby in 1991 on the anniversary of the day she met her husband more than 53 years ago.
Besides volunteering, she walks, shops and dips into a bit of gambling in Las Vegas, although she rarely wins, she said. She bowls on Tuesdays - the only day she's not wearing a sweatsuit.
When she considers the next chapter in her life, she wants to spend it "living, I hope."
"Every time I get up, I thank God I'm alive - considering the alternative," she said with a laugh.
Her friend P.J. Fitzgerald of Lemont said Coleman's quick wit and warmth are rarely matched.
"She is a total nut," said Fitzgerald, who was Lemont Citizen of the Year in 1995. "She is the life of the party. She will help you with anything, and she's just a fantastic person. If you're running a garage sale, Annie will help you; if you need cookies baked, Annie will help you.
"This is high company, it really is," Fitzgerald said of the group of award winners. "It's a very exclusive club. The people who are in it are awesome for Lemont."
Coleman said the rewards she gets from sharing her life help her as much she helps the community.
"People say how wonderful you are for doing this, and that makes you feel good," she said. "It gives me a reason to live."