 Home | Recent News | Topeka | Stays Active | Printme 01 Jun 2006 Presbyterian Manor Resident Stays Active in the CommunityLong-time Topeka businessman Ray Browning models a change in attitude toward work and retirement that the nation’s 78 million baby boomers are expected to embrace as they reach traditional retirement age. Browning, chairman of the board at Capitol Concrete Products, Inc., continues to go to the office daily at the company he bought 54 years ago. According to “The New Retirement Survey” conducted by Harris Interactive and Age Wave for Merrill Lynch, the majority of boomers surveyed said they planned to keep working and earning in retirement. And society will need them. AARP predicts that by 2011, jobs will outnumber workers ages 18-62 by 4.3 million. The youngest and oldest boomers agree that they want simplicity in retirement and are willing to downsize to get it, according to a survey commissioned by Del Webb Corporation. Browning did that more than two years ago when he moved to a townhome at Presbyterian Manor in Topeka, an active living and wellness community. Not many continue to work full-time while living in a retirement community, but it works well for Browning. He had not given much thought to moving from his Potwin home of more than 50 years until he was asked to serve on the Manor’s Advisory Committee. “I was asked by some friends to be on an advisory board. I had never been in a retirement area but I just knew they were all bad,” he said. After attending a few meetings, he decided to take an orientation tour at the Manor. “After I saw the townhomes, I was driving down the road and a bell rang, and I thought, ‘That’s not a bad idea,’ ” he said. His daughter helped him go through the process of downsizing. She now lives in the family home. “My wife had been an antique dealer and we had more stuff than I knew what to do with,” he said of the home, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Now when he’s not at the office, he enjoys watching geese on a pond near his townhome. And he enjoys having an attached garage for the first time. He appreciates prepared meals there when his schedule allows. Living at Presbyterian Manor meshes well with his active lifestyle. There are no required activities at the Manor, so he can continue to work and do what he loves. Browning says he only had two hours’ experience in the industry when he bought Capitol Concrete Products in 1952. The company has been a key producer and distributor of masonry products in northeast Kansas since 1924. The company was owned by an aunt and uncle when an opportunity came for Browning to take over the business. He was living in Virginia at the time and liked the idea of working for himself. “I looked at block plants in Virginia – two one-hour visits – so I had two hours’ experience,” he said. Browning has parlayed that two hours into a successful career and a strong family business. The company also has an office in Lawrence. “There are very few buildings other than houses in the area that don’t have some of our material in them,” he said. Browning said he enjoys going to the office of the company he built. Day-to-day operations are handled by his son, Jim, who is company president. “He runs it. I do more statistical stuff ,” he said. Browning was the first to be honored by the National Concrete Masonry Association with a Lifetime Achievement Award, which he received in 1998. The award “is bestowed upon those individuals who have made a significant contribution to the concrete masonry industry,” according to the association’s web site. He served the association as chairman of the board in 1973 and also was a driving force in the creation of the Kansas Masonry Industry Council.
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