Senior Renoites maintain active lifestyle
by Nathaniel Motshabi, Outpost contributor
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Washoe
County Senior Services
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Phyllis Benbow is one of them. She is an 81-year-old woman with an ambition - to live to be 100 years or more. She follows the doctor's advice so she can reach her goal.
 Phyllis Benbow. Photo by Nathaniel Motshabi |
"I'm now on oxygen," she said. "But, I'm aware of the things I should do in order to live longer. I'm very affirmative about that."
Benbow is one of the Washoe County's 36,470 senior citizens - those age 65 and older. Their population stood at 25,946 in 1990, meaning the number of older Washoe County residents has grown by more than 40 percent within the past decade.
The number is expected to continue to grow in the next millennium. According to the state demographer's 1997 population projections, the county's senior citizens are expected to number 37,984 by 2002.
Benbow said she has theoretically retired. But she spends time writing a weekly column for the Daily Sparks Tribune in which she extols the virtues of healthy living so that people can live longer. She wishes to have her column syndicated.
"I perspire a lot to make it as good as it can be," she explained.
Her association with newspapers dates back to a time when she was a religion editor for five-and-half years at the Los Angeles Times. While she remains active professionally, she is flexible with her work and sleeps whenever she feels tired.
"I keep a good schedule, " she said. "I sleep well. I often take naps. But, sometimes I work till 2 a.m."
In addition to her work for the newspaper, Benbow has organized Future Centenarian, a local movement for both senior citizens and young people who wish to lead healthy lives with the hope of celebrating a 100th birthday.
Benbow's determination to live longer is shared by three friends: Lola Richardson, Robert Douglass and Peter Palamidy. All of them are octogenarians with the hopes of becoming centenarians. They fall into a demographic category of people aged above 75 - constituting 5.2 percent of Nevada's estimated 1.9 million people.
Nationwide, the population of senior citizens is set to explode as more and more baby boomers grow older. The Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents reported in May 1998 that in just over a decade, the first of America's 77 million baby boomers will celebrate their 65th birthdays.
But as older Renoites demonstrate, that milestone doesn't mean that life has to stop.
 Lola Richardson. Photo by Nathaniel Motshabi |
"I just enjoy doing something for other people," she said.
Richardson was an officer of Reno's Salvation Army for 66 years and was the organization's secretary for 15 years. She now is reaping the benefits of the good the organization does for the community, living in a local apartment complex subsidized by the Salvation Army.
Like many seniors, Richardson loves to spend her retirement travelling, especially to nearby towns in Nevada or California. At the time of the interview, she was planning a trip to Walnut Creek, Calif., to watch and listen to music by a Salvation Army band from England.
"What's interesting about that band is that it has an 80-year-old girl playing the clarinet," she said.
Richardson does not read much because she does not see well.
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"I read just about everything, including simple things like the behavior of beds," he said. "If I see something that I don't understand, I read about it. I try to get the answer."
He retired in 1991 after a lifetime of sanding and finishing floors, in addition to painting houses for 10 years. Before he settled in Reno 12 years ago, he came here once to work on 150 houses.
Douglass recommends a physically active life at a young age if a person wants to live long.
 Peter Palamidy Photo by Nathaniel Motshabi |
"I killed a lot of people and that was wrong," he said. "I never intended to kill anybody. But somebody started the war. The big people start a war and the little people do the fighting."
His service in the Army took him to North Africa, Italy and Korea. After leaving the Army, he worked as a waiter and, at different times, owned a restaurant and a carpet store.
"Killing time is difficult and laborious," he said about his daily routines. "I'm high strung."
He spends his time watching television, writing letters to friends and family and going to the library for videotapes.
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Recently, the Reno Gazette-Journal reported that Larrouy, a casino porter from Fallon, attended a Washington D.C. ceremony to honor America's oldest workers.
Two years ago, Columnist Edward J. Mattimoe, writing in America, told the story of Chick Young, then an 84-year-old store keeper in Chicago.
The lifestyles of Benbow, Douglass, Palamidy, Richardson and thousands others in the county may become less unique in future.
And active older Americans are demonstrating to the younger generations that aging is something to look forward to.
As Douglass succinctly puts it: "Its fun to be old."
Posted May 11, 1999
Copyright 1999 Nevada Outpost
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