Retirement Is a Busy Time for Newport Man

Don Jacobi started working when he was young. More than three-quarters of a century later, and despite retiring, he's still going strong.

“I have been active since I was eight years old, cutting lawns," recalled Jacobi, who recently celebrated his 85th birthday. “I made 25 cents a lawn during the Depression, pulling a wagon behind my bicycle that carried a mower and tools.”

Jacobi, who grew up in Arcadia, moved to Newport Beach with his wife, Peggy, and four kids in 1958 and has lived in Newport ever since, except for five years in San Clemente. For years, he owned a machine shop in Santa Ana. During that time, he learned woodworking from a cabinet maker who shared space with him.

“I was doing things for him and he was doing things for me, “ Jacobi said of their working relationship.

Though he sold the shop three years ago, Jacobi hasn't slowed down.

He turned much of his attention to his own house: wood flooring, new cabinets, countertops, painting, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

“My friends call it the house of molding," Jacobi said, "because it’s such a work in progress.”

Always busy, Jacobi lately has been building wooden bird houses. He likes the idea of selling them in local shops. Peggy, his wife, who works full-time for their daughter's interior design business, has signed on to paint the bird houses.

But Jacobi doesn't stop at home improvement and woodworking. He uses his truck to do pick ups and deliveries for his daughters business. And he works as a handyman for hire, charging by the hour for jobs such as building shelves and cabinets, refinishing furniture and painting. He just finished working on an Airstream trailer, both renovating cabinets on the inside and making repairs to the exterior.

"It’s all word of mouth," Jacobi said of his handyman pursuits, "and that gets me all I want to do.”