Going strong
Active seniors continue to play hard
By Marcy Horwitz CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Healthy, athletic, 87-year-old Helen Nolty swims every other day at the Manchester YMCA.

Feeling a little creaky? Think you might play hooky from the gym? Before you do, meet these three extraordinary senior athletes from Chesterfield. Then try to come up with a good excuse to miss today's treadmill session. Go on. Just try.

Helen Nolty, 87 Manchester

Helen Nolty remembers taking her four children for swim lessons when they were young. But taking care of the kids, the house and her husband, kept her too busy to learn to swim herself. When the last one left home, her husband, Frank, gave her a membership to the Manchester Family YMCA. That was 27 years go. She still remembers putting her face in the water for the first time.

"That's what it's all about!" she says.

From such a tentative beginning, Helen developed a love of swimming. She swam every day until she got her 100 mile badge, and she's still swimming today. Not every day, of course. After all, Helen's now 87. So she only swims every other day.

Clarence Williams, 70

On the "off" days, she does aerobics.

"Swimming's kept me on my feet all these days," she says. "I've enjoyed it, and I recommend it to anybody."

Helen was recently named Member of the Month at the Manchester Y. "It is an honor," she says. A second later she chuckles, "I guess they had to nominate me. I'm the oldest person there."

If you're thinking about getting active, Helen says, "Make up your mind to get active and do it! Don't let anything else take its place! That's the only way I know to do it." She adds, "That and a sense of humor will take you a long, long way."

Clarence Williams, 70 Chester

In his 37 years in law enforcement, 16 of those as sheriff in Chesterfield, Clarence Williams chased his share of folks. Now if you see him running after you, chances are, he's got a softball in his hand, and you're going to be out!

Clarence is retired now, which gives him more time for his game. Carol Estes, his wife, got him to start playing again few years ago. Now they play together on Monday evenings with a co-ed team, the Rockets. The Men's League plays on Thursday nights.

Emily Blunt, 80+

Although Clarence is turning 70 at the end of the month, he plays with the 50- 57 age group. "I like the competition," he says.

There is such a thing as too much softball, so Clarence plays golf "every chance I get." And to keep him on his toes, Carol Estes is teaching him tennis. That keeps him occupied until he can meet with his personal trainer a few times a week.

"Stay active. Keep your mind active, have a good time, and enjoy every minute of it," says Clarence.

"The good Lord blessed us," he continues. "We might as well make the most of the opportunities we've been given."

Emily Blunt, 80+ Chesterfield

While she was in training to become a registered nurse, Emily Blunt had a choice: she could spend her evenings smoking cigarettes with the other girls, or she could play tennis. She chose tennis.

Her nursing career took her to Duke University Hospital, and eventually back to Richmond where she spent 35 years at the old Richmond Memorial Hospital as the night supervisor. Wherever she lived, she'd play.

"I'd come home and play tennis at 8 o'clock in the morning!," she remembers.

Her first husband died, and in time she remarried. Although her second husband is not a tennis player (a situation she jokingly calls "a bad mistake"), Emily continues to play with the Midlothian Tennis Association at the Brandermill Country Club on Thursday mornings.

Emily also enjoys bicycling: she's cycled the Loire River Valley in France, toured Germany, biked in Pennsylvania, and, closer to home, pedaled the C & O Canal. Still, she finds time to volunteer at St. Francis Medical Center, where she helps patients scheduled for ambulatory surgery.

"I've always tried to stay active," Emily says, understating the case just a bit.