Inspiring Legacies of Fitness

Jack LaLanne, fitness celebrity. Photo by nathancremisino.

I am very inspired by mature athletes. I maintain a post about them. Because so many people are remaining active into advanced ages, I decided to split the post.  

Here is a list of some mature athletes who were active at advanced ages, but who have now passed away. Follow the link for one of them, and then get some exercise today and think about that person's legacy. 

Here's the list (organized by longest living first):

Track, Hidekichi Miyazaki (b. September 22, 1910 d. January 23, 2019 at 108)

Shot Put, Ruth Frith (b. August 23, 1909 d. February 28, 2014 at 104)

Track, John Whittemore (b. November 20, 1899, d. April 13, 2005 at 104)

Table Tennis, Dorothy DeLow (b. October 5, 1910, d. January 25, 2014 at 103)

Met a WW2 Vet Today

Martin Weibel, WW2 Veteran

On Mondays I volunteer at Kansas Masonic Home here in Wichita, Kansas.  I help call bingo in the afternoons in the skilled nursing campus.

I have volunteered here since October of 2011. I know residents from the independent living campus and the assisted living campus, too.

Today, Memorial Day, I was walking into the lobby and saw a gentleman wearing a navy ball cap, so I stopped to talk with him. I'm very glad that I did.

He was visiting a fellow sailor's widow, Barbara, who lives at KMH. He drove down with a relative from Minnesota in order to spend the weekend visiting with Barbara and sharing memories about his service with her husband.

I'd like you to meet Martin Weibel, age 90, who served in the navy on the USS Hadley, a destroyer.  He worked in the boiler room. 

I found a webpage about 16 reunions of the crew members, and Martin has the distinction of attending all 16. He's pictured in a group photo of the 2007 reunion.

I was late for meeting with a resident at 1:30 pm, so I didn't get to speak with him for very long, but I shook his hand and thanked him for his service to the country.  Serendipity!

Related:

Life with Father: Ship Shaped

All Gone: Dementia Memoir with Recipes

Published September 27, 2012

I continue to read memoirs about caregivers supporting a family member with dementia.

I do so because memory changes affect each person uniquely.  And scientific studies of dementia don't do enough to explain the impact memory changes have on relationships and identity.

Most recently, I have read All Gone: A Memoir of My Mother with Refreshments (2012) by Alex Witchel, whose mother, Barbara, is living with vascular dementia, which may or may not have been the result of a 60 year smoking habit.

But with all other dementia memoirs, the book does not limit Barbara Witchel to a case study in dementia. She is not defined by this disease.

Instead, her daughter Witchel spends the majority of the time describing her mother's childhood, vocation, family relationships and personality.  She celebrates her mother while at the same time trying to support her in practical and emotional ways as the disease progresses.

Working Actors, 90 plus

Christopher Lee
b. 1922 d. 2015 at 93
Photo by avda-foto.

In Sunset Boulevard (1950), Hollywood newcomer Joe Gillis contends with Norma Desmond, a fading Hollywood star.

The film makes it clear that she is well past her prime. The plot centers on her delusions of returning to her former glory.

Just recently, I found out that at 52 [in 2014], I am older than the character Norma Desmond! And older than Gloria Swanson who was the same age as the character at the time of filming.

"Norma, you're a woman of 50, now grow up. There's nothing tragic about being 50, not unless you try to be 25."