2007 to 2016
Home | Early Retirement Years
Final planning
We have a special binder with all pertinent information regarding executor, life insurance, living wills, regular wills, funeral arrangements, burial details, investment accounts, and banking accounts. The title on the cover of the binder is "What is Where". The spine of the binder has the words "Pvt Info". After we moved to Gwynedd Estates the location of this binder became the top shelf of the desk in my "man cave" room. The keys on top of the Bible go to the safe. The safe is under the TV in Polly's "woman cave" room. Tom and Polly purchased their cemetery sites in 1995. They also prepaid the cost of opening and closing their graves at that time. Whitemarsh Memorial Park is where they are to be buried. Their grave marker plate was selected and purchased on February 13, 2016. The style and wording is the same as that of Polly's parents. "Together Forever" is the wording on it. Our funeral service arrangements were set up with the Ciavarelli Funeral Home on Butler Pike in Ambler, PA with Andrea Ciavarelli Scotti. We tested the ability to play the DVD for my memorial service and it worked fine. That DVD is in a lavender colored sleeve behind tab 9 in the "What is Where" binder. In September of 2020 I decided not to have a memorial service so the DVD is not to be used in such a service. Polly and the Executor will arrange for the private burial of my cremains. There are to be no invitations for this event. Payment for both of our funerals is to be made on the day of each funeral. An account has been set up with the money for these funerals at Key Bank at 732 Norristown Road, Maple Glen, PA 19002. The Executor of my will (Jim Wallace) can use this account to pay the funeral director, the will probate fee, his fees as Executor and as Advocate for Polly. These changes were made so our children would have a minimum of stress at that time. Brad is the Executor of his mother's will. This account will have enough money in it for him to pay the funeral director and the will probate fee.
Final thoughts
Tom and Polly started discarding their accumulated life's work in 2009. Polly's real estate selling and JC Penney decorator selling work-related files were the first to go. Tom's work-related files that he used when he conducted training classes for people in sales techniques, management skills, and business analysis were very slowly being put into plastic bags in 2010 thru 2015 to go to the trash. Nuggets of what he created are shown when you click on the topical links in the prior sentence. The dumping was painful because these training materials were really his life's work. It also appeared that Polly and Tom's civic projects that required significant research and analysis were never going to be reviewed by their children. Should we also discard Polly's art pieces? Because I am very reluctant to do so, we will leave those items for our children and grandchildren to decide what to keep.

Lots of slides (almost 2000) could be converted to digital images, but it seemed no one would be interested in them. Some of them are included in this genealogy project. Polly and Tom did convert 345 slides to a Power Point presentation for their daughter Louise's 50th birthday party in April 2010. Steve's and Brad's scanned photos and converted slides are in folders on Tom's laptop in a folder called "Tom Stuff". These folders are named "Steve Photos and Slides" and "Brad Photos and Slides".

Based on all the indicators, the chances are mighty slim that there will be any interest in all of the evidence of their life's efforts. All that research and creative thought just going to the trash is very disheartening.

Tom and Polly can take solace, however, by realizing that their lives were guided by finding love and by learning and doing things to improve society. They had a life of purpose rather than a life of leisure. That philosophy is described well by an author and billiards champion, Robert Byrne. "The purpose of life is a life of purpose."

After you get to his web page by clicking on his website link, scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on "Quotations" then scroll down to the bottom of that page and click on "Samples". His web page Byrne Website reveals he collected many great sayings that are worth reviewing. Robert was married to an artist just as Tom was.

The primary purpose of the lives of Tom and Polly was to improve society with well-coached and well-educated children. Their alternative approach to improve society was their involvement in civic and church activities.

2007 Highlight
After a meeting with a local member of the US house of representatives (Robert Andrews) in July of 2007, it became clear that Tom was jousting with windmills - no one was going to remedy the federal government underfunding of its 1975 mandate to implement a program in the school districts to include children with special needs in the regular classes for normal students. This was the real cause of ever increasing property taxes.
2008-2009
Now the Yarnalls had to seriously consider moving to a locality that did not have the highest property taxes in the nation.

They began visits to a variety of lifecare places to see what we could afford. They were in articles about property taxes in 2008. One (10/12/08) was in the Courier Post and one (6/29/08) was in the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Anything past age 70 seemed like a bonus because Tom's grandfather and great grandfather died when they were 69 and his dad was infirmed at age 67 when he had his second stroke. In 2009 the lens in Tom's left eye had to be replaced due to a cataract growth. Some left hand damage to a small bone made playing golf painful. Old age formally arrived at age 77. Still he felt very grateful that there was no other challenge other than the controllable high blood pressure.

We found out about annual Yarnall picnics held by distant relatives and started attending them.
2010 Census
The next census was almost due. Tom went back to work for five months and did recruiting and address verification work from January 2009 through May 2009 as part of the preparation for the 2010 census. It was another way to augment income. The census work involved travel and he had to get a new car. He got a 2009 Chevrolet Malibu. Their was extensive driving to various communities in New Jersey and a lot of walking in those areas. It required him to walk about six miles a day to verify addresses for proper mailing of the census questionnaires. He reduced his weight from 184 to 176 and got his legs in great shape.
Golf Money
Maybe more rounds of golf could be possible. He was called back to do more census work from August 2009 until November 2009. He was able to lower his weight to 168. Because of the amount of time worked in 2009, Tom was eligible for Unemployment Insurance compensation. At last the excessive tax burden was being redressed in part by a government job and government benefits. Three more calls back to census work were for periods February and March of 2010, July into October of 2010, and January into March 2011. They wanted a conscientious worker.
When not working for the US Census Bureau, Tom continued with his civic activities. There are two neat pictures related to those activities that were on the New Jersey legislative website.

There was an article written in the Courier Post about activists in the community. Tom was interviewed and a few descriptive and positive words were written about him in the article. At the right is the picture they used in the piece.

A photographer came to his home to take a picture. Tom was at his desk in the room with his PC. A sign on the wall with his motto caught the photographer's eye.
2011 and 2012 Activities
In March Tom was asked by the Mayor (a Democrat) if he would serve on a study commission regarding a merger of Merchantville and Cherry Hill. In June there was the annual Yarnall family picnic to celebrate 328 years of the Yarnalls being in America. Only about two dozen people attend this event these days.

In July Tom got involved with the campaign for the Cherry Hill republican candidates for mayor and council. He did the research for the planks in their platform and provided them with ideas to cut spending. He and Polly worked as a team to promote their election by distributing literature in voting district (45).

We attended the Golden Age Prom Dinner Dances held by the local school district in 2011 and 2012.

In September of 2011 Tom was challenged by persistent hypertension and experienced a lack of results from the medications used to control it. A test to check his aorta was ordered to be done on 10/24/11 because medications were not able to keep the blood pressure close to normal and the continuous higher pressure could result in what happened to Tom's Aunt Sarah - the bursting of the aorta.

We had a great 80th birthday celebration 4/14/2012. By April 2012 I moved into second place on the male longevity list for our branch of the Yarnall tree. As of 2020 I was in first place for our branch of the Yarnall tree. A 2012 house painting project was completed by Tom. Sample of work in picture below.
2013 and 2014 Activities

The picture above is me dressed to attend the 50th birthday party for our son Steve in March of 2013.		 On April 28, 2013 Polly and I went to her high school reunion at the William Penn Inn (one of our favorite restaurants). We had a good time because Polly really enjoyed seeing her classmates.

In May 2014 I installed a new kitchen stove. The big challenge was to keep as much of the false cabinate and soffit structure above the stove as possible and to "hang" the microwave above the stove with the proper supporting brackets. I met the challenge as you can see in the picture on the right.

On June 20, 2013 Brad visited us so he could witness his nephew Jack's high school graduation. The next day Brad and dad played golf at Woodcrest Country Club.

This golf course had always been a private course until it went bankrupt in 2011. It reopened as a public course in 2013. It was in fantastic condition. The senior tees play to 5,531 yards for a par 71, with slope 124 and course rating 67.8. Brad acted as a cameraman with his I-phone. Video clips I am trying to play golf at age 81. My chip shots were very poor and my score was 125. Brad had 107. Because gout has caused my left knee to buckle from time to time, I am reluctant to swing with good leg action. This might be my last full round of golf. There are 426 rounds posted in my golf handicap program. I played those rounds from age 18 to 81, We obviously need to practice and play more. Drives were OK for an old guy. I told Brad I was glad to be on top of the grass on such a beautiful day. We were almost the only golfers on the course so we could hit some practice shots.

On November 27, 2013 I had to have a stent placed in my left anterior descending coronary artery because the plaque buildup had closed it 80%.

In 2013 he had to go to traffic court to defend against an erroneous violation notice related to a right-on-red intersection at route 70 and Springdale Road. HE USED VISUALS TO EXPLAIN THE SITUATION TO THE POLICE AT THE HEARING. The last slide shows how Avon, CT has lights to control right-on-red traffic. Cherry Hill claims this intersection is under the control of the state and the state was not interested in my suggestion regarding a green arrow for right turns. Fearful drivers remain stopped and it causes congestion and pollution. His case was dismissed and his fine was dropped.

In the Spring of 2014 (at age 82) Tom decided to add a yard shed to house the lawn mower, the fertilizer spreader, the leaf blower, and the edger. That would give Polly more space around her car in the garage. Slides of project
2015 to 2020 Activities

Click here for Gwynedd time pics.
Click here for website design.
 On December 14, 2015 we moved to Gwynedd Estates. Slides of move
Family Collapse: By 2020 our family had completely fallen apart. In the "What is Where" binder behind tab 15 there are family exchanges that show evidence of very negative exchanges that contributed to this disintegration. If one clicks on the link of apathy on the home page of this project, there is more evidence that something went wrong. You can click here to see the evidence. Perhaps I will get all the credit for this. This is not what should happen to families. This project shows primarily the positive aspects of our family. Only God might know why it went so badly near the end of my life.
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