Boomers in the Twin Cities are leaving the rat race for work that has personal rewards. Artwork by Kirk Lyttle for Pioneer Press.

Experienced workers in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area are following in the footsteps of Al Gore and Bono in transitioning to encore careers, reports Debra O’Connor in “Baby Boomers Pursue Encore Jobs” on TwinCities.com.

Like the former vice president-turned-environmentalist and U2 musician who now works as an anti-poverty activist, Minnesota residents are embracing careers that provide personal satisfaction and help improve their communities.

One example she cites is John Rudberg, 60, of Maplewood, Minn., who was an accountant for Cargill for 35 years before he became a professor at Bethel University – a job he says he plans to do “as long as I can stand up in front of a classroom.” He told O’Connor, “You can touch (students’) lives and hopefully make an impact.”

Rudberg’s wife, Brenda, also quit her job as an accountant and auditor to become bursar at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls.

Ellen Capecchi, 52, of Inver Grove Heights received her undergraduate degree in gerontology but wound up working at a school district because the flexible hours suited her busy life with three children. When her youngest child left for college, she entered a geriatric pastoral care program and now works full time as a recreational therapist at a retirement community. “This is not a job, but a ministry,” she says.

Don Kampmeier, 59, also of Inver Grove Heights, was CEO for Central Livestock when he went into full cardiac arrest in 1999. “They had to paddle me back to life. It changes your life and makes you think about things,” he says. After he retired in 2003, he decided to work for a transportation service that assists seniors, the disabled and people who are ill. “Here I am, making about $120,000 a year less, and I feel like I’m making more,” he says.

Joel Hanson, 61, of Lake St. Croix Beach, used to work in a treatment program for men who had been abusive toward women. After reading The Purpose-Driven Life, by Rick Warren, he switched gears and got the training he needed to become an associate pastor at a church that serves people in recovery from alcohol or drug abuse or who have had run-ins with the law. He will be ordained on September 7.