“If there’s anything better than retirement, I don’t know what it is.”

That’s how retiree Emma Jones summed up the feelings she undoubtedly shared with the nearly 450 others who gathered to celebrate another year of retirement on June 2 at the 51st annual Retired Teachers Chapter Luncheon at the Hilton Hotel.

Jones attends the luncheon every year with a group of friends who grew up, went to college, raised their kids and taught at PS 79 in the Bronx — together.

As Veronica Motley, one of the group, noted, “It’s the day of the year we learn what’s happening with our union.”

In his update to the retirees, UFT President Michael Mulgrew stressed the importance of politics in bringing about the new era of cooperation that has resulted in a new UFT contract. That contract, he said, will not only improve working conditions and provide salary increases and retroactive pay over time, but also empowers educators to make school-level decisions and share expertise.

Citing uphill political battles in both city and state elections, he described some hard-won victories that now ensure “politicians really worry about us.”

Mulgrew said he often boasts that the UFT has “a wonderful retiree chapter. They’re not afraid of anyone.”

Karen Magee, the newly elected president of the New York State United Teachers, the UFT’s state affiliate, struck the same chord.

“We need to keep our political friends in office at all levels,” she said. “It’s vital because there’s so much at stake.”

Then she warned: “We can’t afford to become Wisconsin or Michigan.”

Reminding retirees that 10 percent more of them vote compared to people who are not retired, she called on them to help get out the vote this November. “You can turn an election,” Magee said.

Retired Teachers Chapter Leader Tom Murphy looked back at the UFT’s more than 50-year history, noting that through good years and bad, “we’re here” and “we’re going to fight” to win in November.

When the crowd stood to acknowledge 102-year-old Florence Rossi, Murphy quipped, “If you can get out of the classroom alive, you can live forever.”

Retirees showed their mettle during the morning awards presentations. Sixty-year member Melvin Steinkohl explained how he had his typing students back in the late 1950s send a steady stream of letters to City Council members proclaiming teachers’ rights to a union and a contract.

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Jonathan Fickies

Raymond Taruskin, the winner of the Edith Potter-Anne Reel Award, led a spontaneous singalong of “High Hopes,” while Joan Boyers, who received the Fanny Simon Award, showed her comedic side with an Eleanor Roosevelt quip: “A woman is like a tea bag — you don’t know how strong she is until she gets in hot water.”

At the end of the day, 50-year member Elizabeth Andricos, who had not attended a retiree luncheon in years, said that she found the celebration so “informative and such fun” that she’s marking it on her calendar for next year.