The oldest baby boomers are reaching seventy in 2016

When Kathleen Casey-Kirschling was born seconds past midnight on Jan. 1, 1946, in Philadelphia, she was at the head of a very long parade. About 3.4 million babies arrived in that first year

of what became known as the baby boom generation. This year Casey-Kirschling and others in the boomer vanguard turn 70. Their life's course took the nation on a great adventure,

rewriting attitudes on race, gender and sex, dictating musical taste, and changing just about everything in the world they inherited. To quote the Grateful Dead, one of their cultural icons,

"What a long, strange trip it's been." So, what does it mean to turn 70 in 2016? For some of the 2.5 million living boomers who will make that milestone this year, it means

aging in a world where the change they embraced — and even fought for — in their youth has seemed to accelerate, sometimes in uncomfortable ways. Kathleen Casey-Kirschlin at age 8 Courtesy

Kathleen Casey-Kirschlin For instance, people born in 1946 grew up in a country where Caucasians were an estimated 90 percent majority, and most families consisted of man (who went to work),

woman (who stayed home) and children (3.5). Today, with the accelerated immigration of the last few years coupled with the change in social mores, it is a different world. Whites are on

their way to becoming a minority in America by 2044. And only 19 percent of all families are the classic nuclear combination. "All of this can be quite disorienting for

70-year-olds," says Paul Taylor, author of _The Next America: Boomers, Millennials, and the Looming Generational Showdown__._ "Some of them feel like the cultural values they grew

up with are shifting all around them." But for others turning 70, the demographic changes, and the shifts in attitude growing out of the civil rights movement, meant their lives were

filled with more opportunity. "When Barack Obama came along, my joke was, if he gets elected, I'll be home watching pigs fly by my window," says Beverly Smith of Boston, who

along with her twin sister, Barbara, was a feminist and civil rights activist in the 1970s. "But of course, it did happen, and it was tremendously exciting." Barbara, who with

Beverly turns 70 in November, still sees the influence of their activism today. "There's a direct line between the organizing we as black feminists did and the Black Lives Matter

movement today." Activist Barbara Smith on her first civil rights rally: "We were so revved up and passionate." David Yellen Still, Beverly Smith notes, tensions arising from

racial confrontations in the past year show that "racism is infinitely flexible and malleable." Men turning 70 this year grew up as part of a generation in which 40 percent of

their brethren served in the military, and many of them were drafted to fight in Vietnam. That war and its unsatisfying conclusion tore the country apart, ended the draft and directly led to

an all-volunteer military. The Vietnam years still resonate for these men. The wounds have yet to heal, and many of them fear the country will forget the price they paid. "It's so

important to remind myself it wasn't a dream, or a nightmare," says Uriel Robles Banuelos, who turns 70 in February. He suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and alcoholism

for years after Vietnam. "It really happened." Women born in 1946 saw perhaps even greater changes in their roles in society. Since their birth, the percentage of American women

in the workforce has soared — from 31 percent in 1946 to 57 percent today. The percentage of 70-plus women who are still working is expected to rise from 30 percent to 39 percent by 2024.