In this paper, the academic afterlife of a purposive sample of 12 recreation, park, and leisure studies educators from a variety of universities throughout the United States and Canada is discussed. The paper begins with a brief review of the literature on successful aging. That literature's insights are then applied to the lived experiences of the study's 12 participants. The results of the inquiry illuminate rich and varied individual differences. At the same time, there are commonalities across the study's 12 participants that underscore the importance of increasing control over one's time in retirement accompanied by an increasing sense of responsibility and accountability for the use of that time. The paper concludes by interpreting the study's results in light of Stebbins's (2013) three categories of leisure and five leisure lifestyles to better understand the prospects for leisure-centered retirement living.