For 81-year-old Babe Johnson, swimming isn’t just a casual activity. It’s something she’s been doing as far back as the first grade growing up in Cando. Now living in Devils Lake, she has been a member of the Senior Swimmers Club for 30 years. To commemorate her longtime devotion to swimming, she was presented an award by the Devils Lake Park Board and the club had a festive celebration for Johnson.
“It just blew my mind this morning when I got the certificate,” she said. “I could not believe it. I just thought it was awesome.” Fellow swimmer Lori Edisness also baked an incredible cake for her to commemorate this occasion. “I felt special. It made me feel super,” Johnson said.
Friends and fellow swimmers gathered at her house after their last spring swim meet. The club meets three times a week at the School for the Deaf and swims at the school’s pool. There they practice laps, water aerobics, and water volleyball,
Johnson’s passion for swimming has never wavered even as she aged. She joined the club at 52-years-old while living in Michigan, ND, at the suggestion of a friend. Being that she was not a senior, she needed to receive a permission slip from a doctor to join. She would drive nearly 40 minutes and when she moved to Devils Lake, the drive became much shorter.
“If I could win the lottery and I could buy some land someplace, I would make a huge senior center with a pool in the middle. Just think how awesome it would be,” she said.
As people get older, due to age, medical, and other reasons many choose to not engage in physical activity. Johnson said that swimming “is good for the your mind and body.”
“People that don’t swim don’t know what they’re missing,” she said. “Water is the greatest medicine.”
Johnson also wanted to make special mention of Darwin Brokke, the lifeguard and his many hours of time that he has devoted to his duties as lifeguard.
