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John Wolff, 96, swims at a slow and steady pace almost every day in the Falls Run community's indoor pool
John Wolff and his wife, Susan, moved to Falls Run in Stafford five years ago. When he has to include his date of birth on forms, people think he's mistaken when he writes '1913.'
John Wolff, who grew up in Australia, has been swimming since he was a little boy. |
By CATHY DYSON
Ask John Wolff how long he's been swimming, and his bright blue eyes will twinkle even more.
"I suppose I started about 80-odd years ago," he said, knowing how unusual it sounds. Then he laughs and adds: "I'm just a boy, really, just a young fella."
Fact is, the man born in Australia--so close to the Indian Ocean he could walk to the water--is still doing laps at 96.
Five times a week, he hits the indoor pool in the Stafford County development where he lives. If he doesn't swim, he walks or bikes.
"I never met anyone quite like him," said his wife, Susan, who doesn't want to give her age but is considerably younger than her husband. "He's game for just about anything."
But he's no speedster.
John doesn't zip through the water like Ian Thorpe, the Australian swimmer nicknamed "the Thorpedo."
Likewise, he's not a fast-talker who makes snap decisions. His wife complains that when he tells a story, it takes so long she forgets the beginning.
John, with his tall, thin frame and wisps of white hair, merely shrugs his shoulders and acknowledges the truth.
Slow and steady is his pace, and moderation is his motto. His approach must work because he doesn't have high blood pressure or heart disease, high cholesterol or any other problems typical of people his age.
"I feel great," he said.
He takes a few vitamins but no prescribed medicines. His only health issue is glaucoma.
When he and his wife moved to Falls Run five years ago, he didn't want her to tell anyone in the senior community he was in his 90s.
"He didn't want to be catered to," she said.
He's more open these days, but his age still turns heads. When John writes his birth date on forms, people take his wife aside.
"They ask, 'Was he really born in 1913?'" she said. "It happens every single time."
John wonders why he gets such reactions.
"Why all the fuss?" he asked. "I'm 96 going on 97. So what?"
If there's anything John doesn't want, it's to be a bother. He wasn't keen on calling attention to himself in a story, but he agreed because others urged him to do so.
Likewise, he didn't want to swim competitively. But when his wife's son suggested he participate in a meet recently at George Mason University, he consented because others wanted to make a big deal out of it.
"That's really his outstanding quality," said William Ward, a Stafford County chiropractor who treats John. "He's a very modest, unassuming guy."
His accommodating nature is one of the qualities that endeared him to his wife--and she's the reason he's in America.
In the late 1980s, John was widowed and living alone in the land down under when his friends urged him to take a trip. He signed up to visit England, Scotland and Wales.
While on a bus tour, he met Susan, who also was traveling alone.
The two struck up a friendship and exchanged addresses. Both stressed it was nothing more.
A year later, she sent him a card, and he thought that was nice. He called her on Christmas Day.
Another year passed, and she sent him a letter saying her husband died.
She sounded depressed, and John was concerned.
He asked if she wanted him to visit; he'd always been a good listener. She agreed, and he set out for what he thought would be a brief stay.
Soon after John arrived in Florida, where Susan lived at the time, the two went to see her son in Connecticut. John wasn't used to the New England cold, and he developed pneumonia.
His six-week stay lasted six months. During that time, he and Susan got to know each other, and she eventually suggested marriage.
He was against it.
He thought himself too old, that it wouldn't be fair to her if he died and she ended up alone again.
She had some of the same misgivings.
But when she talked to her brother, an intellectual whom she claims doesn't like many people, he put things in perspective.
"He said, 'That is the nicest man you ever met,'" Susan recalled. "'If you have 10 good years together, that's more than you'd get from anyone else.'"
John, who had gone back to Australia by this point, came to the same conclusion. He called Susan and proposed over the phone, and she booked a flight to Australia.
The two were married in his home church, then they visited New Zealand.
They've been on the go for much of the last 18 years. They've hiked among bears in Alaska, gone to Hungary and Mexico, and gone on a canopy tour of the jungles
This summer, they'll head to Vermont for a bike trip. They'll ride 15 to 35 miles a day, then sleep in historic inns.
"I wish that I could get around like John does," said Joyce Pruitt, a neighbor who's 72. "I just can't believe he's 96 years old."
Cathy Dyson: 540/374-5425
Email: cdyson@freelancestar.com
| Here are some reasons John Wolff believes he's still healthy and happy at 96. ATTITUDE: People often ask him if he misses Australia. "It doesn't matter where you are, if you're happy." VEGETABLES: Loves 'em. For years, his lunch consisted of nothing more than lettuce and "to-mah-toes." Some current favorites are carrot soup--with chicken stock he makes--and roasted parsnips. NEVER SMOKED, but he does enjoy a cold beer on a hot day and a glass of sherry in the winter. STAYS BUSY: He worked as an electrical engineer but always had side interests. He loved to make furniture and even built a pipe organ. He performed magic and parlor tricks at local clubs. FAMILY: Has two daughters, six grandchildren and one great-grandchild in Australia. ONE CONSTANT in his life has been the love of water. When he and his young buddies fished, no one wanted to swim far from shore in the dark to spread the nets, except Wolff. He also was a volunteer member of a life-saving water team. |
