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Fit and feisty after 80
Overcoming health challenges through physical activity

Told by Lucille Felts to Seasoned Voices Producer Claudette Artwick 

What do yoga, fishing, and shopping carts have in common?  They’re all part of health and fitness activities for 90-year-old Lucille Felts.  In the face of numerous physical challenges--several heart surgeries, chronic back problems, and macular degeneration--Felts keeps moving.  “I’ve got to have some kind of exercise,” says Felts.  “At my age, you can’t just sit down.”  So, Felts uses a shopping cart to help ease her chronic back pain. “I go with my daughter and son-in-law to Lowes and places like that and I push the cart.  And they used to put things in my cart, and they swore that people glared at them because this old lady was pushing the cart and they were walking along, and should push their own cart.” 

But the exercise doesn’t stop there.  Felts does yoga using a video to help guide her through stretches and postures while seated in a chair.  A class at the Maury River Senior Center sparked her interest, and on days when the class doesn’t meet, Felts follows along with the tape at home.  In fact, she wore out her tape and is now on her second copy.  Felts says the yoga helps relieve her back pain.  But what makes her feel best in body and spirit, is fishing.  “I stand out in the water and cast, says Felts.” 

Her favorite fishing spot is the Outer Banks, where she spends a full month every year.  “I love to catch bluefish because they give you a struggle.”  Her passion for fishing was cultivated as a child.  “When I was a little girl I stayed with my grandparents, and my grandfather would dig worms and take me fishing.  And later, my mother loved to fish, and we went down on the Rappahannock River and we would hire a boat.  So fishing, I love.”

Felts says she likes to eat what she catches.  But if the fish aren’t big enough to fillet, she puts them back.  Then she broils, bakes, or sautees the fish—only occasionally will she fry them.  “I don’t try to eat too much fried food,” says Felts.  “After my heart surgery they suggested you eat fruits and vegetables and low fat, and I’ve been doing that.” 

But she does admit to loving banana splits, which she walked into town to buy during her lunch hour years ago, while working as a receptionist.