8 to 5 at 85

MARGE LANTIS (twin sister of Marion Larsen)

› AGE: 81

› OCCUPATION: Since 1948, owner of Buzz’s Tavern in Big Stone City. “It’s an old-fashioned tavern with a solid-oak bar and a floor-to-ceiling oak humidor cabinet with double-glass doors.”

› HOURS: “I work six days a week. I used to work seven, but I haven’t worked on Sundays since I had foot surgery six years ago. I come to work at 2 p.m., stay until 7 p.m., come back at 10 p.m., and close up at 2 a.m.”

› WHY I’M STILL WORKING: “Because I love my tavern, I love working, and I love people. I was home for eight months after foot surgery and that was too long. My tavern is my real home.”

› WHAT’S DIFFERENT ABOUT WORKING AT 81 INSTEAD OF 51: “I don’t think there’s much of a difference. I’m still enjoying it. I scrub my own floors and do my own bookwork. My customers are nice people. I don’t have any rowdiness like most taverns do.”

› WHAT I’D BE DOING IF I WASN’T WORKING: “I’d probably be in heaven.”

› WILL I EVER RETIRE?: “Oh, no. I’ve had customers ask me 20 or 30 years ago, ‘Are you still working? Ain’t you earned enough money yet?’ And I say, ‘Money don’t have nothin’ to do with it. I’m here because I like it and I’m going to stay till I die.’”

GOVE HAMBIDGE

› AGE: 86

› OCCUPATION: “I’ve done medical psychotherapy since 1946. I have a tough caseload because most of my patients have flunked out with other psychiatrists. But that’s what I like. Always have.”

› WHY I’M STILL WORKING: “For two reasons. One, to earn an income. And the other is, I really enjoy it. It’s been challenging ever since I started and it’s probably more challenging now than it ever was, because I’m getting more difficult patients to work with. One psychiatrist who referred a patient to me said, ‘I don’t think there’s anyone else in the Twin Cities who can handle this patient.’ At the time, I thought he was just talking through his hat. But after seeing the patient, I agree with him. It’s quite a corker!”

› WHAT’S DIFFERENT ABOUT WORKING AT 86 INSTEAD OF 56: “I’ve been around longer, so I see more and can empathize more than younger psychiatrists can. I don’t experience the work as more difficult. But psychotherapy is down the drain now—it’s mostly push-button medicine, using drugs to treat symptoms.”

› WHAT I’D BE DOING IF I WASN’T WORKING: “Because I have a full schedule, I’m deprived of the reading I’d like to do. My wife and I are birders—we went down to Chile and Argentina last January, and it was fantastic birding. And I’d have a hard time staying away from dynamic psychology in some capacity.”

› REFLECTIONS ON RETIREMENT: “If somebody handed me the dollars, I’d retire. But nobody’s handed them to me, and I’m enjoying paying my way.”