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Gretchen N.

This is my husband, Dennis Niles story. He grew up on a small, family owned ranch in Belton, TX. Everyone had to pitch in -so from about age 5, he worked in earnest. As he got older, the chores became more physically demanding. Bailing hay, loading it on trucks, and burning the spikes off of prickly pear cactus with a flame thrower called a pear burner so the cattle could eat them. At age 15 he started driving a truck cross country in the summer for his uncle. In those days the trucks had horrible suspension & he had to lay a board across the seats to make a bed. He joined the Navy at 18, was UDT &his ears have been messed up since due to some kind of infection.

When he got out, he bounced around a number of jobs, finally landing at UPS in 1975. Another physically demanding job, not to mention the stress UPS puts on employees to PERFORM. When he retired in 2000, we thought we were set for a comfortable, not lavish life. He wasn’t disabled at retirement but is now an above the knee amputee, has Peripheral Arterial Disease, high BP, has had some mini strokes, and is becoming frighteningly forgetful. He can’t get a job! It’s fortunate that I’m 22 years younger & can care for him for now. I could possibly get a part-time job in the nearest small town.

Even still, I’m uncomfortable leaving him alone. His pension is projected to be cut 50% from $2500 to $1250. This will create a hardship in just meeting our basic needs.  We certainly won’t be able to help meet our granddaughter’s basic needs as we do frequently now. The stress of this looming over our heads has sent ME to the doctor because I was afraid for myself, fearing I was headed for a heart attack. It saddens me that people like my husband who’ve literally worked their entire lives have this threat. It angers me too because this fiduciaries at CSPF have no conscience that they would put some of America’s most vulnerable senior citizens through this. These hard working men & women deserve their full & promised pensions.