Andy Petro, 86, will get stopped by his neighbors half a dozen instances a day in his senior residing neighborhood in Roseville, California. One neighbor can’t get their texts to undergo. One other can’t toggle with their brightness, and one lady needs to discover ways to ship her grandchild glad birthday balloons via the display screen.
“It was like I opened a candy store, and all the candy was free,” says Petro, who modestly admits to fixing 90% of the Apple-related troubles he encounters.
Most not too long ago, a lady stopped Petro whereas sitting at dinner as a result of she couldn’t get any calls to come back via. Petro was at her door in an hour. “That just saves them from having to ride down to the Apple Store,” Petro tells Fortune. “Now she can make phone calls. That’s nice.”
Whereas he’s recognized to his household as Andy, he’s savvy Mr. Apple to his fellow seniors in Sonrisa Senior Residing.
Along with tapping him on the shoulder for last-minute help, individuals block off time to listen to Petro’s tech talks. As president of the senior middle’s Apple Membership, a company for individuals who wish to benefit from their iPhone’s options, Petro hosts a month-to-month hour-long class in the neighborhood theater with 20 to 25 neighbors between ages 75 and 95. He solutions questions, explains new options or updates, and offers recommendations on one of the best methods to speak (he’s certain to have the newest variations himself). As a longtime tech professional and instructor, he loves giving again and serving to individuals really feel assured about new types of speaking as they age.
“Since my brain still works, I brought all my knowledge and became Mr. iPhone guy,” he says.
After Petro joined the Marine Corps within the late Fifties, he was inspired to review electronics earlier than transferring to a base in Japan. After getting back from his service, he secured a job in aeronautics in Southern California. For the subsequent a number of many years, between jobs and startups, he additionally taught courses in expertise and enterprise programs. When the primary Apple gadget got here out within the Seventies, he was among the many most keen prospects.
“I fell in love with Apple products when the first one came out,” he says, having purchased the Apple II Plus pc system. He instantly noticed its influence on his son, who had been scuffling with dyslexia and wasn’t doing effectively in class.
Francois LOCHON by way of Getty
“A miracle happened,” he says. “He could now type, and when he was typing, he didn’t have the same dyslexic problems as he does when he’s writing with a pencil in his hand.”
Whereas novel applied sciences impacted his household, additionally they inspired him to continue to learn and instructing others all through his profession. Thus, instructing at his senior residing middle wasn’t removed from his previous stomping grounds.
After retiring at age 70, Petro and his spouse moved to an unbiased home in a senior neighborhood close to their household. There, he was launched to his first Apple membership and joined the board of administrators for 15 years. As he aged and moved to a senior residing facility, he began his personal tech membership for the residents.
Whereas a few of what he teaches is comparatively newbie, he places his ego apart and helps his neighbors discover the Apple retailer or their cellphone’s provider location when the issue is out of his wheelhouse.
“When people come to my classes, they’re really very enthusiastic about learning something new, and then feel good about it and feel good about themselves,” he says, resembling taking photographs and texting them to household. “It’s really something that will allow them to communicate a little bit better with their grandchildren and their children.”
Andy Petro
Petro emphasizes that folks underestimate older adults and assume they don’t wish to be taught the newest updates. Nonetheless, he says, many are keen to search out methods to streamline communication and use new options, particularly for individuals who could have Parkinson’s and must discover ways to use voice recognition to restrict typing on the display screen, for instance. “In every new version that comes out, there’s really a number of things in it that are good for somebody who’s 85 or 90 years old,” Petro says.
It doesn’t damage that Petro will get to work together with numerous new faces as he’s prone to be stopped dozens of instances earlier than the subsequent official class.
“When I got here, I said, ‘anybody who’s interested in Apple, come and see me,’” he says.
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