Aging Actively Senior Citizens Work Hard To Stay Fit And Enjoy Life
A warning to couch potatoes: This story will make you feel bad.
It’s about Wilbur Inks, an 80-year-old who ran last year’s Bloomsday in 80 minutes, beating out 40,000 other racers. And Donna Franke, who is nearly 90 but still does aerobics three times a week and takes walking tours of Europe.
It’s about Dean Gaudette, a 74-year-old who sleds with his grandkids and rides his bike to Post Falls just to catch breakfast. And Mary Bemis, a 74-year-old who “toughens up” her legs by working out at a gym so she can ski the black diamond runs at Schweitzer.
While many of us simply whine about fitness goals and pine for firmer physiques, these Valley seniors are walking the talk. Ask them about the Fountain of Youth, and they’ll tell you they’ve found it.
It begins flowing when you get off the couch.
“Just get off your duff and do it,” said Franke, a fireball with a svelte body that defies her years. Fifteen years of aerobics has kept her limber - and lively.
When it comes to fitness, she said, it’s never too late to start. Franke was already 72 when she signed up for her first aerobics class. Inks took up running at 67. Bemis got her lifetime fitness center membership when she was in her 50s. Gaudette joined the Peace Corps at 62.
Instead of letting arthritis, injuries and inquisitive stares stop them, these Valley seniors use exercise to stop the aches, pains and widespread stereotypes about aging.
“Give it all you’ve got as long as you can,” said Bemis, who feels most alive when standing on a crisp, frigid ski slope, her feet above the clouds. “Then when you can’t,” she said, “you won’t feel like you’ve missed out.”
Giving it all you’ve got - from youth to old age - may be the secret to not missing out on life. A recent study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that nonsmoking men who walked just two miles a day were half as likely to die as their inactive counterparts.
Inks, Franke and Gaudette all have experienced fewer aches and pains when they’ve stayed active. “I have people who tell me I’m their inspiration,” said Bemis, who has run all but two of Spokane’s Bloomsday races. Last year, she placed fifth in the 70 to 79 age bracket.
“It’s a funny thing,” she said, “each year it seems to get easier.”
It’s hard to know if staying active is what gives these seniors their zest for life, or if the opposite holds true. Either way, they all believe exercise has kept them young.
Bemis doesn’t waste time worrying about falls or broken bones. “You can’t be afraid of anything,” she said. “When I try to be careful, that’s when I get hurt.”
At 74, Bemis skis, runs and takes step aerobics three days a week. Surprisingly, pickle ball has proven to be her most dangerous sport. It gave her a broken arm and concussion in 1991, when an overzealous partner accidentally knocked her to the ground.
Bemis didn’t get discouraged. Like Inks, she came back from the injury even stronger than before.
Inks suffered two crushed vertebrae in a hunting accident when he was 69. Doctors told him to exercise, but avoid anything that could lead to a fall. He spent the winter walking in a nearby church gym, and eight months later, the new runner competed in Bloomsday.
Just one year later, he ran the 7.4 mile course in 61 minutes.
“It’s helped to keep me going,” said Inks, who says running has eased the arthritis in his spine. The 80-year-old has competed in 230 races, taking first, second or third place in 147 of them. He doesn’t get discouraged when younger, faster runners pass him by.
“If you set a goal and make the goal, you’re a winner,” he said. “I run Bloomsday and 9,000 people can beat me,” he said. “But I can beat 40,000 of them.”
At 87, Donna Franke can “work it” and “make it burn” harder than many younger fitness buffs. She does aerobics three days a week. She goes dancing twice a week. On New Year’s Eve, she and her husband waltzed until 1 a.m.
Franke is used to being on her feet. She ran a steak wrapping machine for S&P Meats until she was 70. When she wasn’t working, she was doing aerobics, gardening and walking all over Europe.
She’s traveled up the Swiss Alps, toured the Edinburgh Castle in Scotland, and on a trip she took when she was in her 60s, spent 45 minutes climbing the steps up to the top of the dome on St. Paul’s Cathedral in London.
“We walked everywhere you can imagine,” Franke said. “If you go to Europe, you have to walk if you want to see anything.”
Dean and Nancy Gaudette have also worn out shoes in foreign countries. Three years ago, the seniors walked 84 miles during a 12-day trip to England.
The active couple walks all over Eastern Washington and North Idaho, participating in frequent 10-kilometer Volksport theme walks. They also sail, taking their 22-foot boat out on Coeur d’Alene Lake almost every day in the summer. Winters are for skiing and sledding with their two young granddaughters.
They fill in spare moments with bicycling, ballroom dancing and flexibility exercises.
“We just feel great,” said Nancy, a 65-year-old retired teacher.
She and her husband have never considered slowing down. After retiring, Dean Gaudette joined the Peace Corps. The former Eastern Washington University professor spent two years in Honduras raising fish as a new food source, and bicycling around on a one-speed bike.
The trip, he said, fulfilled a lifetime dream. And came at the perfect time.
“You’re never too old to try something new,” said Inks, who hopes to take first place in Bloomsday’s 80-and-over category this year, despite arthritis and bad knees.
“You can probably do more than you think you can, he said.
, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: 4 Photos (2 Color)