Elderly from across U.S. are dashing to Utah's Dixie

ST. GEORGE — Dan and Mitzi Rak never thought they'd give up their home in suburban Washington, D.C., to live out their golden years in Utah.

At least not until the Air Force sent Dan on a project to southern Utah.

"I liked the area, so I persuaded Mitzi to come out and take a look," the 72-year-old said.

She liked it as much as he did. "We decided we'd have a new adventure in retirement," he said, explaining why they moved to a home near St. George in 1993.

Neither Mitzi, 70, nor Dan play golf — a popular pastime in St. George — but keep busy by volunteering with community projects, walking and biking and showing their numerous visiting friends and relatives the abundant natural resources the area offers.

"We've enjoyed every one of the 11 years," Dan said.

While many view Utah as a state with a large population of young and large LDS families, it also has one of the nation's fastest growing older populations. The Utah State Division of Aging and Adult Services says Utah's 65 and older population increased 27 percent in the past 10 years and will increase another 28 percent in the next decade.

The Raks epitomize these new immigrants: older, active, affluent and not members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The U.S. Census Bureau says the state's older population will increase 165 percent from 181,805 in 2000 to an estimated 482,543 residents in 2035.

Washington County and specifically St. George, six miles from the Arizona border, is the hot spot for the new growth of older residents in Utah.

In fact, Census numbers released in early August showed that among counties that already had a population of more than 1,000 residents age 85 and older, Washington County led the nation by growing that population by 44 percent in the past three years to 2,244.

No one knows better how growth has affected southern Utah communities than Betty McCarty.

"We're bulging at the seams," said the director of the Washington County Council on Aging.

That's even after a new $3 million, 28,000-square-foot senior center opened last January in St. George — unofficially known as the Retirement Capital of Utah, and it's packing them in for everything from lunch to art classes to tai chi lessons.

The growth is putting the squeeze on McCarty and others who provide aging services.