Had my mother been a baby boomer, rather than being born in 1922, she would have retired some years ago as CFO of a major corporation.

A product of multiple generations of independent women -- her own mother divorced and working , my mother went to work for the D&C Steamship Lines as a cost accountant after graduating from high school.  She worked for them until she married my father in 1944.  That job kindled my mother''s life long affair with numbers, money and accounting.

My mother was treasurer of her VFW Auxiliary organization for more than 50 years. She trained dozens of replacements, but they never quite stuck.  Over the years, she was continually elected to the position as her trainees dropped by the wayside due to relocation, illness, and sometimes death.  As Mom approached 82, we heard that every year was "her last year".  It was not until my parents had to move to assisted living that she finally gave up the job -- albeit reluctantly.

As a volunteer, my Mom has done quarterly Not-For-Profit tax returns, conducted audits, dealt with the State of Michigan Gaming Commission for bingos, raffles and other fund raisers.  She knew how to handle money; trained more banking tellers than the local bank probably did.

No matter what the volunteer effort, look for the money and there you will find my mother. As she approaches 88, she even helps out with the small bingos at her assisted living facility.

Through all of her volunteer work, Mom taught us both a healthy respect for money and to have a commitment to projects outside of career.  She was not obsessed with her volunteer work, but she taught us the importance of giving back, of being part of the greater community.

After her marriage, my mother never worked a day outside the home for a salary. However, she was never without outside interests and work to do. After being elected Treasurer, she had a real part-time job even if she never got paid for it.

I sometimes wonder about all the talent and energy, education and potential degrees that languished from the 1940s through the 1960s.

How many nascent CEOs, CFOs and other senior managers and executives raised their families during those years while priming their sons and especially their daughters for revolution?  My mother made sure that her daughters knew that their education gave them the weapons that they neeeded to succeed -- the knowledge that they could break out.