If you "accused" West Seattle's Fred Matthews of being a philosopher, the humble Westwood resident might bristle, and say instead that he considers himself a retiree who simply likes to teach. He is armed with a Master of Divinity degree from the Pacific School of Religion located in progressive Berkeley, the center of the cyclone back in the turbulent '60's when he graduated, (preceded by his Ingraham High School degree in turbulent North Seattle, and Whitman College bachelor degree).

He comfortably recites Erik Erikson's theories of development, quotes Sherwin Nuland's "How We Die", and discusses Iranian poet Rumi, James Hollis' "What Matters Most", Mary Catherine and Gregory Bateson, she, the daughter of Margaret Mead, he a psychiatric pioneer, author/speaker David Solie, and Marc Freedman and his new book, "The Big Shift".

He said he "decided not to follow an institutional path" in the ministry, and instead spent 40 years in the field of fund-raising for nonprofits including the March of Dimes.

Matthews, 67, believes when many reach that stage of life beginning at around 65 they become confused in their roles in life, including relationships, and what they want next. He offers a website, www.encore-pathways.net as a forum to discuss these issues. Through the website he is beginning to organize meet-ups.

"When I read this material I said, 'This is me'. I decided to explore this and came up with the website, to take the material in these books and break it down into bite sized pieces. I don't think even AARP has groked on adulthood II,"he said, referencing Robert A. Heinlein's "Stranger in a Strange Land".

Matthews explained, "We know that people are living longer and that the segment of population of active adults beginning roughly at the age of 60 or 70 is growing. We haven't realized that there is something new in terms of human development that is part of that. It's so new there isn't a single name for it. One is Adulthood II, another is Encore Adulthood.

"One of the implications is that it is changing the meaning of the word retirement," he said. "What we're talking about is this relatively new segment of population which reaches a point in life where they are stepping back from major family commitments, major career commitments, but yet have health, vitality, experience, and hopefully even some wisdom."

He cited a chart of ages of development by Erik Erikson, and expanded upon by Mary Catherine Bateson. It begins with "infancy", "early childhood", "play age", "school age", "adolescence", "young adulthood", "adulthood", then Bateman added "adulthood II", and finally Erikson's last stage, "old age".

"When I was growing up and when one of my great-aunts or uncles retired, they were on the verge of end-of-life," Matthews said. "they had a life expectancy of about four to eight more years when they reached my current age.

"With Adulthood II, this is a period during which people can still make significant contributions to family, society, community, potentially even the world," he said. "There are people who are afraid of retirement because they don't know what to do. People like me are trying to engage the community, We're not looking for a place like a Del Webb retirement ghetto. I'm looking to start things."

Dating and marriage after retirement

Matthews believes that longevity is a double-edged sword in marriages and dating.

He explained, "There is good news and bad news. By this point in our life we are pretty clear what our values are and what is important to us. To find someone…When we are younger we meet at high school or college and have the chance to grow up together. But now we're grown up, so how do we find someone new if we are single? I have done some dating recently, and what I find personally is a lot of women are still looking for their soulmate, one last great relationship in the traditional sense. I am not sure if such a relationship is still possible. We become complicated over the years. I don't seek someone where we are looking at each other, but rather someone who, together, we're looking outward.

"It's also putting pressure on a lot of marriages. Some say, 'We don't have much in common anymore.' There are some very significant trends for married people, especially women in this (Adulthood II) age group. For instance, the husband retires. He's around a lot more. After having been gone the last 30 or 40 years he wants to be more of a companion to his wife, but a lot of women are taking this point in their lives to go out and do something new. So there is conflict there. She might have been an attorney all her life, but what she really wanted to do was write plays. This is when he wants to be more of a couple and he is looking for more companionship. He wants what he didn't have before, but with her, and she is wondering, Do I want to spend another 25 years with this person?'"

He suggested attending his discussion group to find some answers.