It's been said of men reaching a certain age who retire from their jobs that they often grow bored and cranky because they lack the internal resources -- that is, ways to cope with the onset of age and change.

The antithesis to this theory is Jack Reber.

He's retired twice, the first time from his own business, Reber Machine Shop in Muncie in 1987.

"But he couldn't stay retired," his son, Phil, recalled in an earlier interview.

So Jack started another business in Eaton, Merit Tool, with his son and retired from that business in 1998.

Since then, and in his "spare" time when he did work, Jack Reber has been building airplanes. No, not models, not miniatures, but full-sized airplanes.

Inside his hangar (a garage converted into a workshop) Reber works meticulously, sculpting the wood onto the frame of his latest project.

"I build the old Civil Pilot Training Planes and fly them," Reber explained. "The red model hanging there is a replica of the plane called the Interstate Cadet. I flew it regularly until I sold it about four years ago."

Indeed, a plaque on the wall is a builder award for Reber's 1932 Sky Scout plane.

As he works building yet another plane to fly, we're reminded that here is a man who has not only internal resources to build on, but a wide, blue sea of air to sail.

Cathy Hunter is a free-lance writer living in Muncie. Her work appears Thursdays on the Eaton Area page and monthly in Savvy magazine.