70 & Sunny: Two San Diegans, Decades Apart, Share Advice and Talk Hobbies

Larry Schneider

76, Retired Illustrator, Clairemont

Printed IssueSubscribe and get 1 year for $18

What have you been doing with this extra time on your hands?

I go to the YMCA to do some water workouts. I go by myself in the mornings, and my wife joins me in the afternoons. We’ve been together nearly 30 years.

What’s the key to a 30-year relationship?

To feel your frustrations, yell it out if you need to, and talk about what’s going on. Then let it go.

How has retirement been?

I was a scientific illustrator, so I like taking community college art classes and trying out different media, like watercolor. It was always a mystery to me how to avoid making a muddy mess.

Back up. Scientific illustration?!

I illustrated for a company in Sorrento Valley that was contracted by the federal government for the nuclear weapons tests in Nevada. Then I did the same for the US Geological Survey for 17 years.

You’ve been in San Diego a while, then.

I have lived in Clairemont my whole life. I actually still live in the duplex my folks bought in 1959. There used to be a runway for a little airport off Clairemont Drive, before Balboa Avenue existed.

Miles Darder

9, Third Grader, North Park

As soon as school is done for the day, what are you doing?

I’ll play with my sister and our goldendoodle, Ziggy. Ziggy is super strong, so we’ll play tug-of-war until she knocks me over. I also like to go outside and just watch the cars go by.

Are you a car guy?

I like Mustangs and an old one… I think it’s called a station wagon. My first car will be a Mustang in all black.

What’s the key to being a good older brother?

If you have a little sister like I do, maybe help her when she falls down and give her a Band-Aid.

What’s the best advice your parents have given you?

Don’t turn the inside car light on when you’re driving at night. They say it’s illegal.

Have any big goals?

My dad says if I read five chapter books we can get a PS5. I’m reading my second book right now—I Survived the Great Chicago Fire, 1871. It’s really good.

Larry (left) and Miles

Jenny Siegwart