More Local

• ABQTrib.com to remain available
• Former Marine to serve two years in jail for killing Albuquerque robber
• Wilson-Pearce battle for U.S. Senate exemplifies party's disparity

MOST RECENT TRIB STORIES

• ABQTrib.com to remain available
  08:48 a.m., February 25, 2008
• Congressman is indicted
  08:37 a.m., February 23, 2008
• Series of attacks target Green Zone
  08:36 a.m., February 23, 2008
• Iran is defying U.N., agency says
  08:35 a.m., February 23, 2008
• Waterboarding approval probed
  08:34 a.m., February 23, 2008

TRIB IN THE BLOGOSPHERE*

• Ty Murray Invitational thrills fans in Albuquerque
• Is Rome Burning?
• Ominous Skies
• The Road to Invalidation
• Albuquerque company participates in “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition”

*Note: The Tribune does not create and is not responsible for the blogosphere's headlines and stories. These links to blogs talking about ABQTrib.com are automatically generated. Use them at your own risk.

STORY TOOLS

• E-mail story
• Comments
• iPod friendly
• Printer friendly

SHARE THIS STORY [?]

Open Barry Schoeneman's garage and you'll find his baby boomer secret to avoiding thoughts of mortality: a 1976 Toyota Land Cruiser FJ40.

Chances are on any given night this winter you'll find the 53-year-old welding it and fixing it up. But when the weather gets better that will likely change - as he hops back on his dirt bike or hits the ocean to go scuba diving.

Schoeneman, who has worked as an engineer at Sandia National Laboratories for 30 years, doesn't see any of his hobbies as reckless - despite high national rates among his fellow boomers of accident-related deaths - it's just there's so much left to do and time's growing short, he said.

"I guess I'm just worried I'm going to miss out on something," Schoeneman said. "All of this really is an opportunity for me, and I can pursue a wide variety of things. But I have to be very careful about what I choose, because this is my last chance."

An analysis by Scripps Howard News Service found boomers are dying from accidents, drug abuse and suicide at higher rates than the generations that came before them.

In Bernalillo County, the numbers of boomer deaths from those causes are also high - but no higher than any other age group in the state, said Tim Stepetic, associate director of the Office of the Medical Investigator.

"The biggest single cause of unnatural death is drug intoxication," Stepetic said. Among Bernalillo County boomers in 2003, "there were 36 suicides, which seems like a lot. But the percentages were totally consistent for 2003, 2004 and 2005 with people across the state, no matter what age."

Still, as boomers start moving into their 60s, they're feeling the stresses and pressures of mortality. Dealing with it can be extremely difficult for the generation that said "don't trust anyone over 30," said Breda Bova, an expert on generations at the University of New Mexico.

"They're going to live life to the fullest," said Bova, who at 61 considers herself part of the baby boom. "They were never going to get old. They look at retirement a lot, a lot differently. A lot of them won't open that first AARP thing they get in the mail."

But while they are in some ways trying to avoid it - via drugs or by taking up activities like snowboarding - death is starting to snatch at them with its icy fingers, Schoeneman said.

"My grandmother said to me one time, `You know, you can sure tell you're getting old when you see your friends in the obituaries,' " Schoeneman said. "In the last few years I've seen four people, friends from my professional career, that are gone."

The world he lives in has also changed so much from when he was a kid that it's no longer recognizable - and that can certainly be stressful for the boom generation, Schoeneman said.

"I saw a television invented; I saw semiconductors invented," Schoeneman said. "Those are such simple concepts now, but back then they were marvels. Things are moving faster and faster, and many boomers feel a need to stay on top of it."

American culture also isn't quite the same anymore, he said.

"A lot of economic changes have occurred," Schoeneman said. "We have two-income families and no front porches on houses. I remember sitting on a front porch, talking with neighbors. Those days are gone."

Baby boomers - because of the generation's size at about 78 million - have experienced a lot of competition for jobs in an age when automation has replaced much manual labor and many companies have moved operations overseas, said John McIntosh, a boomer and 54-year-old psychology professor at Indiana University.

"Suicide would rank fairly high in that particular age group," McIntosh said. "Boomers had a higher risk of suicide at each life point they reached, compared with those prior to them."

That doesn't mean life at 60 is necessarily going to be a drag, though, he said.

Boomers are healthier than generations that came before them. And they're generally better educated and have higher incomes, McIntosh said.

Boomers also might not represent a spike in suicide so much as a trend of increasing suicidal risk that carries over into younger generations. Those coming up behind them seem to be even worse off, he said.

"There is the beginning of a trend that Gen X is following the boomers in suicide rates, and they will be about as high, maybe even higher, than boomers," McIntosh said. "But all the data isn't in yet."

Another looming problem for boomers suffering from depression, suicidal thoughts and drug abuse is that the infrastructure to support them as they grow older just isn't there, McIntosh said.

"We just don't have enough mental health people that specialize in the issues of late life," McIntosh said.

With the looming labor shortage that will come as the 78 million boomers retire and the 44 million Gen X-ers behind them try to fill the gap, the lack of those services will become "absolutely massive," he added.

For Schoeneman, the social stresses and trends seem valid. But when he gets out of the garage and really starts thinking about death, it makes him think more about how he can help the younger generations, like his nieces and nephews and their families, he said.

"You want to get involved and help them understand what it's like to be where we are," Schoeneman said. "But you also have to take into account that when I was that age, I wasn't going to listen to anybody."

Still, it doesn't bother Schoeneman too much when they don't listen, he said.

There's so much left to do. So little time.

When he retires from Sandia in two years, he might start fixing up old houses, or maybe do some more mechanical stuff. And then, of course, he could go back to school and learn how to be a race-car driver, Schoeneman said.

"I could investigate another passion," he said.

What will he do with his "last chance?"

At that question, Schoeneman sighed and paused.

"I don't know," he said.