Imagine you’re 74. No spring chicken. You’ve already survived breast and lung cancer—surgery for the latter reduced your breathing capacity by 25 percent.
You’ve retired after more than five decades working as a nurse and with a degree in gerontology. You know how society treats old folks, especially elderly Black women. You’ve done your fair share, perhaps more than your fair share.
Isn’t it time to slow down? Find a nice beach, buy a condo and live the good life?
Most folks might settle comfortably in just that kind of existence. After all, most of us slow down as we age, right?
Who would want to be in a place where, if you had to pee, it would be outside in -30F?
Most folks aren’t Barbara Hillary.
After retiring, despite her health challenges, Hillary began exploring. She chose some of the world’s coldest regions, which found her dogsledding in Quebec and photographing polar bears in Manitoba, Canada.
Hillary developed a taste not only for adventure but also for the physical exertions that those adventures demanded of her.
The more she explored, the more she discovered she could explore, despite the limitation of her lungs. She was charmed and energized by the people she met during her travels and moved by how the changing world was affecting them. Her passion for the wild outdoors and its people led to a deep concern for climate change, which threatened the landscapes she loved.
Hillary wanted to do something that would bring more attention to the survival challenges she saw firsthand.
At an age when many retirees might prefer a warm, sandy beach and an umbrella drink, Hillary decided to hike to the North Pole.
She prepared hard for a year, secured funds, worked out on weights with a personal trainer, and learned to ski. She had to learn how to pull her own heavy sled.
The first really bad moment was when the guide evaluated her before she could ski to base camp. At that point, after all the training, the investment of time and effort, the guide could give you the once-over and decide, nope, you can’t go.
He did allow her to go and history was made.
According to Hillary, “The worst of it was having to pee when the temperature was below 30 F.”
Finally, Hillary raised her hands in triumph after planting her ski poles near the door to Santa’s workshop. She was the first Black woman ever to do so.
In that moment of euphoria, all the doom and gloomers that she had encountered, all the naysayers were washed away, she said.
That was April 23, 2007. She was 75.
After her record-breaking accomplishment, the awards and accolades flowed in.
The U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution acknowledging her achievement in 2007.
The National Organization for Women awarded here the Woman of Courage Award.
Isn’t that enough?
What’s enough for someone like Barbara Hillary?
Most folks might happily settle down after such a crazy-mad successful adventure and rest on their laurels. Write articles, write a book, speak about it. After all, no other Black woman had done it.
Most folks aren’t Barbara Hillary.
Four years later, at the age of 79, she hiked to the South Pole. On January 6, 2011, Hillary once again raised her ski poles in triumph in the cold isolation at the bottom of the world. She had come a long, long way from the swampy, humid South Carolina lowlands where she had been born.
But wait, there’s more.
Armed with the knowledge and education of what her preparation for these incredible excursions had given her, Hillary used her newly acquired legendary status to become a sought-after speaker. She founded and became the editor of The Peninsula Magazine in New York. She worked tirelessly to raise awareness about climate change.
Hillary dedicated her trips to her mother, Viola Jones Hillary, who had moved her family from Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, to New York City. It was the Depression, yet Viola believed that the city would afford her two daughters a better chance for success.
Barbara Hillary has long credited her determined mother with teaching her that the world didn’t owe her anything. The lesson to go after what you want and to do the hard work to get you there is woven throughout Hillary’s life.
Perhaps above all, Hillary didn’t believe that the aged should simply be a profit source for the nursing home industry, as she put it. As a result, Hillary did far more than just crush these notions—she rose as a symbol of what could be achieved as we age into our final years, what determination and will could accomplish.
Saddled with ailing health, Hillary made a final trip to Mongolia in 2019 to visit the nomadic tribes famous for herding wild reindeer. This would be her final adventure, before passing at the age of 88.
Shortly after she died, Hillary was inducted into The National Women’s Hall of Fame.
Funny, smart, focused, and fierce, Barbara Hillary continues to be an example of what you can do no matter the limitations placed on us by society, by naysayers, and by ageist beliefs—how to finish strong.
Julia Hubbel is a prize-winning journalist and author of two books. An adventure traveler, she thrives on exploring the boundaries of the heart, soul, spirit, and humor. Horizons beckon for Hubbel, who launched her passion to take on challenging sports in the world’s greatest places in earnest at age 60.