“It’s like getting up and brushing your teeth,” says Joyce Carr, 77. Her husband, Bob, 90, happily works out for good health. “It comes naturally,” he says.
By Jolene Limbacher Special to IndeOnline.com
JACKSON TWP. No deliberation is required. Not even an alarm clock is needed.
For Bob and Joyce Carr, the decision to exercise six days a week at 6 a.m. every day is automatic.
What might seem extraordinary to some, is a longtime lifestyle to them, and they can’t imagine living any other way.
“I’ve done it since I was young,” said Joyce, who is 77. “It’s like getting up and brushing your teeth. We get up and exercise. It’s our lifestyle. We do something every day.”
“I don’t have to work at it,” said Carr, 90. “It comes naturally. We need to exercise from the standpoint of our health.”
Dedicated and determined, both believe what experts have long touted — that exercise offers incredible benefits that can improve one’s health from the inside out and promote a better quality of life.
Both either are or have been runners, bicyclists, golfers and tennis players. When Bob could no longer run, he jogged. When jogging became difficult, he power walked. They’ve always found a way to “do something,” said Joyce.
They keep exercise interesting and new by changing the type of machines used, working out together and either biking or walking outdoors to enjoy the beauty of nature and the free use of Jackson’s Parks. Nor do they waste time on exercises they dislike.
Joyce has focused lately on aerobic machines to get a full-body, one-hour workout, while Bob does 10-pound arm curls and uses treadmills and cycling machines. “I can’t imagine how I’d feel if I didn’t exercise,” he said.
Humanitarian work
The residents of Vineyard Avenue NW have worked out just about every day of their 32-year marriage. They joined the Paul and Carol David YMCA six years ago.
Staring down aging with aggression and gusto has filtered into other parts of their lives as well. Both have traveled extensively, but many of their vacations focused on exercising and well-being. They booked trips in other states where trails are available for cycling, logging as many as 62 miles a day.
Their humanitarian efforts also involved physical activities when they participated in a mission to Nicaragua for Habitat for Humanity. It was both a disheartening and frightful week they spent in October 1998 that ended in their evacuation by helicopter after a hurricane devastated the area where they were working.
The Carrs had retired three years earlier and wanted earnestly to do volunteer work. A friend of Bob’s was active in Habitat so they joined several other Stark Countians and ventured to the second-poorest city in Central America.
They helped construct a 20×20-foot block home for people too poor to live in anything other than cardboard boxes. Then disaster struck, and in an instant the home they built was gone.
“Hurricane Mitch came and wiped out everything we had done and flooded and washed out the dirt roads,” Joyce said. “We were in mud up to our waists and had to dig our way out to the main highway.”
It took several days before the group was airlifted out with nothing more than the clothes on their backs. Eleven-thousand people died, including 2,000 who perished in a massive mudslide in Nicaragua.
Once back home, the Carrs and others from Stark County banded together to raise $100,000 to send back to Habitat and to a church in Nicaragua.
Dr. Hill
The couple’s fondness for the Y is readily apparent. It’s not only for exercising, it’s for socializing. They’ve made friends with other early risers, including Dr. Edward Hill, who celebrated his 99th birthday April 26.
“If our friends don’t show up (to exercise) in two or three days, we call to see if they’re okay,” Joyce said.
Dr. Hill is a faithful visitor to the Y three days a week, following a program devised by a trainer. He does 50 minutes of aerobic exercises that work both his upper and lower body to maintain the coordination and balance he needs at his age to avoid falls.
The longtime physician is well-known for helping patients almost all of his life and for donating his medical skills to those unable to afford it.
To celebrate his birthday, the Carrs and other Y members, including Executive Director Jean Campbell, honored him at a breakfast.
While the Carrs and Dr. Hill are intent on ensuring the highest quality and lengths of their lives, it’s unrealistic to think that anyone who has logged 80, 90 or 100 years hasn’t gotten dinged up along the way with injuries or illness.
“God has been really good to both of us,” Bob said. “I haven’t had much illness. I would hate to burden someone by saying ‘I did this and you can, too,’ Maybe they work two or three jobs. I’m reluctant about making judgments — you never know what problems people have. Longevity doesn’t hurt either; my father lived to be 95.”
Bob Carr worked as a managing partner at a regional CPA firm, the former Bruner Cox LLP in Canton and Akron. He has two sons and two daughters: David of Honolulu, and Dan Carr, Rosie Gray and Cathy Langreder of Stark County.
A retired financial consultant for Merrill Lynch, Joyce has two daughters, Sheri Fischer of Dusseldorf, Germany, and Suzanne Crosser of Charlotte, N.C.
While the Carrs are fit and fabulous, it must be noted that they “sleep in” on Saturdays — until 6:30 a.m. After working out, they go to a doughnut shop where they treat themselves to a pastry for another week well done.
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