By Elaine Herscher, Senior Communications Editor
In May 2021, 72-year-old Nancy Rubin started walking every day for exercise, often with other people to keep up the enjoyment and momentum. From there her curiosity grew about what people her age and older were doing to stay fit, particularly during the worst of the COVID pandemic.
The result of that curiosity is Forever Fit: Exercising for Life, a series of photos and text documenting the physical activity of folks aged 70 to 95.
“I’m sure most of you probably have heard, when someone’s a writer they say write about what you know. Well, what I know is that I’m aging,” Nancy told a group at William Jenkins Health Center, where the exhibit formally opened this month.
The exhibit features text from each person in their own words and photos of them engaged in their form of exercise. Each piece is also translated into Spanish. She actively sought out a wide range of participants, both men and women.
“I probably could have filled the whole exhibit with ninety-year-old white women who walk every day. I wanted to get a more diverse group,” she said. “I also didn’t want anyone who was an ultra-marathoner, just regular exercisers.”
The photos feature people in such activities as playing pickle ball (the fastest growing sport in the country), lawn bowling, dancing, and doing yoga.
“The hardest thing to do is to just get out the door,” she says about her own exercise routine. “And once I’m out the door, after the first 10 minutes, it’s kind of like I can go forever.”
