retiree profile
Krol takes time for self, travel and volunteering during retirement
By Sharita Forrest, Assistant Editor (217) 244-1072; slforres@illinois.edu
“People would always ask, ‘Well, what are you going to do when you retire?’ ” said Ed Krol, former assistant director of Campus Information Technologies and Educational Services (CITES). “And I didn’t have anything to do. So, finally, I sort of thought, ‘Well, I really like France.’ ” So less than 24 hours after his April 30 retirement, Ed Krol and his wife, Margaret, were aboard a plane to Paris. After a five-day stay, Margaret, who is assistant vice president of Administrative Information Technology Services, returned to the states, and Ed headed for the shores of the Mediterranean for a leisurely week in Corsica. In June, Krol traveled to a secluded island in northern Minnesota, where he spent a week supervising church youth as they prepared the family camp’s cabins and grounds for the summer season. Krol has served as a camp counselor there for more than 10 years. “I like doing it,” Krol said. “There’s very little turnover in the counselors, and they’re like your best friends because you have to rely on them and you get to know each other really well.” In July, the Krols were in Minnesota as well for daughter Molly’s wedding. During October, they visited Walt Disney World, and this winter they will hit the ski slopes in Colorado. Bypass surgery three years ago forced some changes in Krol’s activities, grounding him as a private pilot and prompting him to sell his plane. Health concerns also sidelined him as a hockey player but he continues to officiate youth and some college hockey games, something he has done for a quarter century and plans to continue doing indefinitely. Physical activity is a priority for Krol, who is trying to outwit a genetic legacy of heart disease with regular workouts on the treadmill, the stairstepper and with weights. “I exercise an awful lot because I’m trying to stay healthy, and it used to be that fitting work and exercise in together was a big stressor,” Krol said. “Now exercising for two hours a day is not a big issue, and that’s a big stress relief, not having to worry if I will be able to get everything done.” Cooking is another activity Krol finds “very therapeutic,” and he specializes in low-fat adaptations of main dishes. When Krol retired, he had a lengthy to-do list of home projects in mind, but frequent diversions such as a recent afternoon’s boating at Clinton Lake with a friend are causing his home repairs to progress more slowly than he expected. Civic activities, such as the Champaign Rotary Club, and board memberships with his church, an online technology journal and Planned Parenthood also occupy Krol’s time. Krol, who says he is amazed at how easily he can fritter away his time, is also researching the correlation between time-saving technology and ever-escalating user expectations for a paper he plans to submit to the online journal. “I started noticing that you have all these people complaining about how slow the Internet is,” Krol said. “If they could only get a faster cable modem or broadband access their life would be wonderful. The problem is, they get that, and in a little while they’re complaining the same way they were.” And cyberspace is a realm that Krol knows well. Krol’s 1987 book, “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Internet,” which summarized the origins, financing and workings of the Internet, is regarded as an authoritative and comprehensible guidebook for neophyte users. Krol followed up with a second book in 1994, “The Whole Internet User’s Guide and Catalog” (O’Reilly & Associates), which includes a compendium of Internet-based resources.
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