Lifestyle

Connie, 88, Still Works Six or Seven Days a Week at Her Vacuum Franchise: “I Don’t Want to Be Idle”

By Mike Harper · November 11, 2026

In August 2022, KITV Island News reporter Diane Ako met Connie Asentista in Aiea, Hawaii. Asentista was 88, and she was still showing up at her vacuum franchise six or seven days a week.

She had a simple reason for staying on the job.

“I know what’s going on in the world,” she said. “I don’t want to be idle.”

KITV’s article identified her as the owner of A’s Kirby Sales & Service, a Kirby vacuum shop at Harbor Court in Aiea. She bought the franchise in 1999.

“My husband said, ‘This is hard work for you,’” she recalled. “I said, ‘Well, nothing like trying.’”

Ako told viewers that she did try, and that she became an award-winning salesperson. At 88, the reporter said, Asentista still showed up six or seven days a week. The station’s article also said that came to at least 40 hours a week.

Ako asked why she would want to be 88 and working so hard, and whether she should be hanging out with her kids and grandkids instead.

“Oh, no,” Asentista said.

Her son, Michael, told the station he saw a purpose in that schedule. “She’s here to make sure that I’m set and settled for the rest of my life,” he said. “Not only mentally, business-wise, but also in my faith, to be strong in my faith.”

Ako said love of family and God rounded out Asentista’s 18-hour days. Asentista described the mix this way: “Time to pray, time to play, time to work.” She also said, “Sunday is fantastic. Then we all go down to the beach.”

You can watch the report in KITV Island News’s video on YouTube.

Most people that age are not still in the labor force. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, in its table of civilian labor force participation rates by age, puts the 2025 rate for people 75 and older at 8.5 percent, up from 6.4 percent in 2005 and 8.2 percent in 2015. Among women 75 and older, the 2025 rate was 6.6 percent. The same table projects the overall rate for people 75 and older will reach 10.1 percent by 2035.

Asentista’s story, as KITV told it, was not about being pushed back into a job to cover a bill. She had owned the shop for more than two decades and was still going in because she did not want to sit idle, and because, as her son put it, she was looking after his future and her faith.

Ako closed the segment by thanking Michael and Asentista’s other eight children, and by calling their mother an inspiration for the station’s Aging Well series.

If you are weighing whether to keep working later than you once planned, the decision is personal. It can involve health, family, and money. The BLS figures describe how many older adults are in the labor force. They are not a recommendation. If money is part of what you are deciding, a trusted advisor or a legal aid clinic can help you look at your own benefits and budget.

This article is for general information and is not legal or financial advice. Details of Connie Asentista’s work schedule and business come from KITV Island News’s August 2022 report. This article was produced with the assistance of AI and fact-checked against the sources cited by LightWave Reports.