A 91-year-old Oregon grocery-store clerk says she may finally retire after raising money on GoFundMe

• Betty Glover is relying on a GoFundMe campaign to help her finally retire.
• The 91-year-old works as a cashier for a grocery-store chain in Oregon.

It would be a cause for celebration if it weren't so dystopian: A 91-year-old American woman may have raised enough money online to finally retire.

Betty Glover is a great-grandmother who says she has worked for seven decades straight. For the past 10 years, she's been a cashier at WinCo, an Oregon supermarket chain. Before that, she worked for a roofing company.

But with her eyes beginning to fail her and remaining debt on the fifth-wheel camper — the kind of mobile home towed by a truck — in which she lives, Glover has joined the many Americans turning to the generosity of strangers for relief from crushing debt.

"I really need to retire as my eyesight is failing due to macular degeneration," she said in her GoFundMe post. "To retire I need to pay off the fifth wheel I live in. If I can do this, I will have enough to pay for the rent of the space, groceries and medications that I need."

Despite the US being one of the wealthiest countries, growing old in the nation is a hardship for millions. Almost 90 years after President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act, many Americans are approaching retirement at a time of increased inflation and wage stagnation. Meanwhile, the cost of living and medical care for older people have escalated.

As a result, the average retirement age in the US continues to increase. It's now 61, up from 59 in 2002 and 57 in 1991. Americans are also expecting to retire much later than they did a decade ago.

Glover's fundraising campaign has raised more than $60,000, far exceeding her goal of $40,000. Glover told the Rogue Valley Times, a local newspaper in the town where she still works, that she hoped the money would allow her to finally spend some time with her grandkids.

"I've just never known anything different than working," she told the outlet.

Glover did not immediately respond to a request for comment.