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Fitness for Life
Jean Doppenberg
Exercising together comes naturally for Mary Lou and Glenn B., who show no signs of slowing down despite their ages. They take walks around their neighborhood for fitness, and visit a circuit training facility three or four times a week to work out side-by-side on the low-impact machines.
"When Glenn and I belonged to a country club, we exercised three mornings a week for about an hour each time," says 92-year-old Mary Lou about their life in a northern California beach community. "We also used the club's swimming pool three days a week and played endless games of tennis."
The swimming and tennis are now behind them, but they're sticking with an exercise routine.
"At our age we have to stay as active as possible," says Mary Lou, moving as if she doesn't have a single achy muscle or stiff joint. Glenn, 89, is still building up his strength following hip replacement surgery in 2007 and a mild stroke more recently. "We might even get back out on the golf course before long," he adds with a smile.
Driving poses no problem for Mary Lou, who gets behind the wheel with confidence and transports herself and Glenn to their many activities. They enjoy attending movies at a cinema near their home, and occasionally sip a cocktail at a hotel lounge where they can watch children splashing in the swimming pool.
Glenn retired in 2005 after a long and illustrious career as a cartoonist. For more than 50 years his work appeared in The New Yorker, Saturday Evening Post, Playboy, and Collier's magazines, among others, and until recently he served as president of a large cartoonists' organization that counted household names among its members. A collection of Glenn's cartoons are now archived at the Cartoon Library and Museum at Ohio State University.
Mary Lou was still selling real estate well into her late 80s, but these days it's a challenging game of bridge that occupies her time and keeps her mind sharp. She is a force to be reckoned with around the card table, participating in games twice a week at a senior center and a community center. "But I would play every day if I could," she says.
When Mary Lou met Glenn in the 1960s, she played golf and he played tennis. Together they learned each other's favorite sport, although Mary Lou confesses that Glenn wasn't much of a golfer. "He loved to hit the ball, but it took him quite a few shots to get on the green," she laughs. Tennis was Glenn's game, and he was very good at it, so Mary Lou picked up a racquet too.
Married in 1969, the couple went on to lead a busy social life that in addition to the country club membership included participation in several organizations. They took ballroom dancing lessons and frequently were seen shaking a leg out on the town. In the 1970s, they rubbed elbows with Clint Eastwood at parties in northern California, and even attended a big bash at Hugh Hefner's Playboy mansion in Los Angeles to honor that magazine's stable of renowned cartoonists.
So what's their secret to a long and relatively healthy life? "Well, it's simple – we've always just kept going," Mary Lou states matter-of-factly. "We eat good, solid food, and get out and meet people." They are also close with their four children, eight grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.
With an insatiable curiosity about people and the stories they have to share, Jean Saylor Doppenberg has covered industries ranging from hospitality to home improvement to healthcare. Assignments have included writing a 12-page brochure for an exclusive Sonoma Coast resort to compiling newsletter articles for private industry and non-profits.
Jean is available for writing and editing assignments relating to healthcare, tourism and wineries, and green technologies. Please contact her at doppberg@sonic.net.
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