Role models are not date-stamped, but our heroes change as we grow older. I've found we are more apt to admire ordinary people who keep life zingy.

Another woman I admire is Mrs. William McFadzean, a vital woman in her 70s who will wear out before she rusts out. A transplant from Minnesota, she has sunk hearty roots into Arizona.

McFadzean and her late husband began dividing the year between Arizona and Minnesota eight years ago.

''We decided to move to Arizona full time five years ago because of Bill's business,'' Alice said. ''He was one of the four partners who bought the Hotel Westward Ho.''

The historic hotel had been converted into senior housing a few years earlier, and, Alice explained, ''Bill was the partner who served as the government liaison who got it accepted as a HUD (Housing and Urban Development) project. HUD points to it as a model project.''

She's still active in the business, but reserves Tuesdays for hands-on volunteer service to our state. She spends it at the Desert Botanical Garden, doing whatever needs doing.

''Wherever I lived, I have always been a gardener,'' Alice said. ''When Bill and I began coming to Arizona, I was fascinated by the desert plants and animals. When we moved here, I decided to put my actions where my mouth was. I took the 12-week core course on flora and fauna of the Sonoran Desert.''

Usually she works in the greenhouses, and said she sells a lot of plants to winter visitors. ''Many of the people from the East want to take a bit of Arizona home with them.''

Thursdays is golf day with the Women's Golf League at Encanto. Alice said last week's foursome included two women in their 80s, and ''they held their own. I'm not a par golfer but I keep lowering my handicap.'' Of course she would. Watch out, par.