He works, hikes, travels extensively and always keeps a watchful eye out for wildlife and other wonders of nature that he can photograph with his digital camera.

He also is a skeptic, especially when he receives offers of freebies and announcements in the mail that he has won something.

When his wife, Sari, told him last fall that he had won a contest sponsored by AARP, which included a free trip to Minneapolis for a mid-life makeover, his first reaction was disbelief.

It took Sari, who had entered him into the contest by submitting a photo and brief essay, a little time to convince him that he had, in fact, been selected one of ten winning models in the "2009 Faces of 50+ Real People Model Search."

The winners, who were announced on January 27, will be featured in an article scheduled for the March/April edition.

AARP The Magazine is aimed at people over age 50 and touts more than 34 million readers.

According to Michelle Alvarez, media relations spokesman, the magazine, for three years now, has published an annual feature story about outer and inner beauty.

Past subjects have included skin care and fashion. This year the theme was how to update your look.

More than 9,000 applicants submitted their names for consideration both online and during the annual AARP The Magazine Road Show.

The magazine selected the winners, based on their assessment of whether those men and women embody the qualities of 50+ America.

Judges comprising a panel of editors made the selection in three age groups, looking for "vivacious, active men and women who reflect AARP The Magazine's core belief that beauty is ageless."

"The Faces of 50 + Model Search is a great way for our members to celebrate the beauty and wisdom that comes with age," said Nancy Perry Graham, editor of AARP The Magazine.

"This year's winners illustrate that staying active and vivacious is what makes someone beautiful, inside and out."

The models, who range in age from 52 to 80, were styled by makeover stylist Christopher Hopkins, author of "Staging Your Comeback: A Complete Beauty Revival for Women over 45."

Before and after photographs published in the magazine demonstrate each model's head-to-toe transformation.

Mr. Denham's makeover included a haircut, which his wife had been urging him to get for some time, an eyebrow trim and some designer clothes, including a Kenneth Cole suit and Calvin Klein shirt.

Born and raised in an apartment in White Plains, Mr. Denham, a stockbroker, moved to Oxford seven years ago.

He had come to Newtown to visit a friend and instantly fell in love with the Connecticut landscape.

After an extensive search, he and his wife, who lived in Mamaroneck at the time, found a house they admired on Aspetuck Drive bordering a large patch of woodlands.

He quickly came to love the rural lifestyle, taking particular pleasure in watching the deer roaming through his yard, hiking in the adjacent forest, chopping his own wood, gardening in the summer months and traveling three or four times a year.

"We could never live any place but Oxford again," he said.

An admirer of his in-laws, who live at Oxford Greens and who have a vigorous lifestyle atypical of people in their 80s, he said he recognizes now, more than ever, the benefits of being active and positively engaged in life.

Aware that his arthritis and asthma may slow him down eventually, he said his objective now is to take advantage of what he can do and do it with passion.

"I'm gulping life," he said.

In addition to Mr. Denham, who was the only model selected from New England, AARP The Magazine named, in the 50s category, Kayce Glass, 53, an actress/singer from New York City; Marilyn Murdoch, 63, a business owner from Portland, Ore.; Paul Mockovak, a 53-year old drama professor from Dunkirk, N.Y.; and Marie Verett, 52, a non-profit executive from Denver, Colo.

Those in their 60s included Cynthia Pfanstiel, a 62-year-old decorator from Sandy Springs, Ga.; Anthony Zee, 63, a theoretical physicist from Santa Barbara, Calif.; and Bobbie McGee, 60, a hair stylist from Minneapolis, Minn.

Also selected was Kate Higgins, 70, a retired educator from Portland, Ore.; and Laurie Bachran of Kaneohe, Hawaii, an 80-year-old associate pastor.

To learn more about the winners, visit www.aarpmagazine. org/modelsearch.