Laura Ingalls Wilder was a teacher before becoming a writer, Wilder was 65 when Little House on the Prairie was published. If you read the Little House on the Prairie books as a child, then you likely know the story of Wilder’s life. The daughter of a pioneer family in late 19th-century America, she was a teacher, a housewife and a journalist, and worked for the local Farm Loan Association. What you might not know is that Wilder didn’t publish the first book in her series until 1932, when she was 65. She began writing her childhood memoirs at the encouragement of her daughter. Her original biography, Pioneer Girl, which was rejected by publishers, will be released later this year.
“Colonel” Harland Sanders
Yes, the KFC Colonel Sanders. Harland began selling fried chicken on the side of the road during the Great Depression but didn’t earn success for his fast food chain until he was 65