Building Purpose with  Bob Gift

In this episode of Beyond 60: Unscripted, Ruth Williams-Brinkley sits down with her longtime friend Bob Gift for a warm and thoughtful conversation about retirement, identity, and the search for purpose after a long and demanding career. While Bob’s woodworking provides the frame for the discussion, the episode is really about something larger: what happens when the titles, routines, travel schedules, and professional responsibilities fall away, and you have to decide how to fill your days with meaning. Bob reflects on his career in health care consulting, the transition into retirement, the importance of staying curious, and the satisfaction of creating something tangible after years of work that often felt more abstract. Through his story, Ruth and Bob explore creativity, community, patience, adaptation, and the value of trying something new, reminding listeners that retirement is not an ending, but an opportunity to keep learning, growing, and building a life that feels fully your own. Meet the GuestBob Gift is a retired health care consultant, engineer, and lifelong learner whose career spanned more than four decades in and around hospitals, including 30 years traveling the country as a consultant focused on operations, process improvement, and organizational change. In retirement, Bob has found a new sense of purpose and creativity through woodworking, building furniture and meaningful handmade pieces for family, friends, and his community. His story reflects the value of curiosity, patience, and finding something tangible and fulfilling to make your own in life after the “big job.”