Arlene Lowell, 96, of Bethel works out every day either at home or at the gym. Rose Lincoln/Bethel Citizen
BETHEL — Arlene Lowell, 96, typically goes to they gym but said it’s too cold right now.
Instead she works out everyday out on the treadmill that her son got for her in a trade for a chainsaw.
“Exercise keeps you moving … a lot of people just sit after they retire. They don’t last long,” said Lowell.
As a child, Lowell whose maiden name was Davis, swam in Pleasant River in West Bethel with her five siblings. “there’s only two of us left,” she said. They played jump rope, hopscotch, Simon Says and a game called Annie-Over where you threw a ball over the house and tried to catch it on the other side and not get tagged.
In the winter they ice skated, sledded and skied. “Our skis were held on by jar rubbers. We didn’t have ski boots or ski harnesses. We made ski jumps on the hills,” she said.
Before she became a member at the gym, about six years ago, she exercised by walking circles around the parking lot at the nearby church.
She cooks and cleans her house despite the macular degeneration that has taken her eyesight. She is hard of hearing, too.
Arlene Lowell, 96, of Bethel. Rose Lincoln/Bethel Citizen
She said she has been healthy her whole life, no broken bones, just a hip replacement. She doesn’t smoke or drink alcohol. “I drink a lot of water and juices,” she said.
“And don’t eat a mess of junk food,” she warned.
Lowell’s husband passed away 41 years ago.
She said the best thing that has happened in her life was the birth of her two children. Her son Robert lives with her and works next door.
A photograph of her daughter with flowy hair is hanging on the wall. It was right after the photo was taken that her daughter lost her hair to chemotherapy says Lowell. She survived cancer and grew her hair back. “I thank God for her every day,” she says, her voice cracking.
When the snow and ice melt in the spring, her friend, Doris Mills, of Bethel, will drive over and they will head to Peak MTN Fitness a 24-hour gym a few miles up the road. Their arrival time was always 5 a.m., but Lowell told her friend she doesn’t want to get up that early anymore. She’d like to start going at 6 a.m. instead.
Once there, she’ll ride a stationary bike for 50 minutes. On the weight-lifting machines, she’ll work both her arms and legs. When she and Mills began at the gym, their goal was to lift 40 lbs. She’s fairly certain they have reached their goal.
People like her friend, Gina Douglas tell her, “you are my inspiration,” she said.
Other gym patrons say they can’t believe she is 96. “I have met a lot of nice people [at the gym]. Of course they are a lot younger than me,” said Lowell.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
