This paper describes a program, Leadership Enhancement for the Active Retired (LEAR), designed to tap talented and active retired people in rural areas for leadership roles. In cooperation with a community college, two classes of older adults were recruited and trained. Participants were classified as to their leadership activity both prior to retirement, and after participating in the LEAR program. After interviewing all the participants and studying related literature, a model of leadership activity in older adulthood was formulated. Leadership in older adulthood stems from three main overlapping paths: (1) "focus in retirement" helps retirees focus their energy, time, skills, abilities and interests; (2) "past history of community leadership" will most likely lead a person to community leadership roles after retirement; and (3) "preparation for leadership" includes motivation, confidence building, relevancy of the program, awareness of community needs, specific leadership skills, and recruitment of participants prior to retirement. The follow-up of the LEAR participants demonstrated that senior adults can, through a well designed educational program, be encouraged to assume community leadership roles after their retirement. Over half of the participants in LEAR are currently in community leadership roles. The appendix contains the table of contents for the training manual for this program and a list of related publications. (KS)