thesecretsquad

My dad is retiring this year from his career of 48 years. For reference, he worked for the federal government and his job involved interpreting U.S. import tax laws and calculating the correct duties on imports. He loved working, especially for the social interaction with his coworkers, but also because he likes learning and solving complex and interesting problems.

He's 72 years old and has his wits. Unfortunately, he doesn't have any hobbies. I'm concerned he'll get bored/depressed/stressed after the initial novelty of being retired wears off. He'll now have an extra 40 hours a week to fill, nobody to talk to during the day (except my mom), and nothing to exercise his mind and keep him sharp as he gets older. Also, he was highly skilled at his job and his department depended on him to get their work done. I think he'll miss looking forward to waking up in the morning and working on something where he knows his work is needed and appreciated.

A lot of people have jobs that easily translate to a hobby, side business, or volunteer service, but the work he did isn't really hobby material. He's not interested in starting a business or working as a consultant either (Not even part time. I think he's done punching someone else's clock.)

In college he studied and excelled at math, science (physics, chemistry), and economics. He's always had an interest in computers, but never got involved in programming. One thing I thought of was open-source software development. I know if he was interested he'd be able to learn the language/tools easily, but I have no idea what projects to suggest to someone who is his age and completely new to software development.

Does anyone have any suggestions how a 72-year-old could get started with open-source software development? Does anyone think it would be a bad idea to get him involved in open-source software? Any other hobby suggestions?