For more than 40 years, this aerobics class has kept a community moving
For decades, fitness, friendship and community have gone hand in hand in Walpole, Mass.
DOWN. LOOK, LET’S LINE UP LIKE WE DID THE OTHER DAY. GET IN YOUR SPOTS THAT WE HAD THE OTHER DAY. ONE, TWO. SOME EXERCISE CLASSES SEEM TO NEVER END HERE AT THE KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS IN WALPOLE ONE CLASS NEVER DID. THESE ARE ALL THE NAMES OF ALL THE PEOPLE WHO’VE BEEN IN OUR CLASS FROM 1985 UP TILL THE PRESENT TIME. THREE DAYS A WEEK, A FAMILIAR BEAT FILLS THIS ROOM. TWO. ONE. TWO. THREE. FOUR. GUIDED BY A FAMILIAR VOICE, ANNE MARIE HARUTUNIAN OVER YOUR HEAD. HERE WE GO. UP ONE, TWO. FOR 45 YEARS, ANNE MARIE HAS BEEN KICKING IT IN CLASS, MOVING TO THE MUSIC AND THROUGH LIFE. ONE, TWO, THREE. FOUR. HEEL, HEEL. IT ALL BEGAN AS SO MANY JOURNEYS DO, WITH A SEARCH FOR COMMUNITY. WELL, I ALWAYS EXERCISED MY WHOLE LIFE. AND THEN I MOVED TO WALPOLE 45 YEARS AGO, AND I NEEDED TO FIND EXERCISE SOMEWHERE. I DECIDED TO TRY AN EXERCISE CLASS. I STARTED DECEMBER OF 79. WHAT STARTED AS AN AEROBICS CLASS IN THE LATE 1970S BECAME SOMETHING FAR BIGGER. CAROL. DOTTIE, WELCOME THE ORIGINALS. I’VE BEEN DOING IT FOR HOW MANY YEARS? ME? YEAH. THIS CLASS. I’D HATE TO TELL YOU. 43 YEARS. OH MY GOODNESS. YEAH. CHEERS TO YOU, JILL AND CAROL. AND I WILL TELL YOU A TIRE. AT ONE TIME WHEN WE FIRST STARTED OFF, WE WERE PRETTY SNAZZY. I WAS GOING TO ASK COLORFUL LEOTARDS. THEY WERE YOUNG MOTHERS THEN, DROPPING KIDS AT SCHOOL, RUSHING IN WITH PONYTAILS AND LEGWARMERS, SQUEEZING IN ONE HOUR THAT BELONGED TO JUST THEM. WE’VE BEEN THROUGH CHILDREN’S GRADUATIONS, THEIR WEDDINGS, THEIR HAVING CHILDREN, THEIR CHILDREN HAVING CHILDREN. THEY NOT ONLY SHARED MOMS STORIES TOGETHER, THEY SHARED RECIPES. MY KIDS WOULD SAY, OH MY GOSH, THIS IS DELICIOUS. WHERE’D YOU GET THIS EXERCISE CLASS? SIX, SEVEN. THE MUSIC HAS CHANGED. EIGHT, NINE, THOUGH NOT MUCH. HE WORKS US. HOW MANY ARE IN TOTAL? 180. OH, IT’S MORE THAN THAT. THIS IS A LOT FOR YOU. YEAH, 160 IS WHAT WE NORMALLY DO. SO ALWAYS 30 MORE. YOU CAN DO 30 MORE. 19, 20 THROUGH CAREERS, THROUGH LOSS. CAROL AND GEORGE HAVE LOST THEIR HUSBANDS IN GETTING THROUGH THE SORROW TOGETHER, THROUGH JOY. AND A WHOLE LOT OF LAUGHTER. HATS OFF. CONTINUING. BUT THE UNDERLYING STRENGTH HERE IS FOUND IN ENDURING FRIENDSHIP. WE ARE SO LUCKY. WE ARE SO BLESSED. I DON’T THINK LUCKY IS THE WORD I THINK BLESSED TO HAVE FRIENDS FOR 40 YEARS AND TO LOVE EACH OTHER LIKE WE DO IN CHOOSING MOVEMENT OVER STILLNESS. SO THIS IS THE KEY TO YOUTH RIGHT HERE THEN, I GUESS. SO I’M STILL MOVING AT THE AGE WHEN MANY SLOW DOWN, THESE WOMEN KEEP STEPPING FORWARD. I KNOW PEOPLE MUCH YOUNGER THAN US CAN’T DO WHAT WE DO. WALKING UP MY STAIRS WITH MY GROCERIES IN MY ARMS, I SAY, OH THANK GOD I CAN DO THIS. NOT TO TURN BACK THE CLOCK, BUT TO HONOR EVERY MOMENT THAT’S BROUGHT THEM HERE. WE NEVER THOUGHT WE’D BE HERE 40 YEARS. NO, WE THOUGHT, YOU KNOW, ONCE THE KIDS ARE MARRIED, WE’LL STOP. NO PROOF THAT SOMETIMES THE LONGEST LASTING BONDS AREN’T FORMED AT MAJOR LIFE MILESTONES. BUT IN AN ORDINARY ROOM WITH A LITTLE MUSIC AND A SHARED STORY WITH A LOT OF SOUL. THANK YOU, ANNE MARIE. YOU DID A GOOD JOB. ANNE MARIE’S DAUGHTER SUBMITTED THIS STORY TO OUR TEAM. HER KIDS CALL HER THE ENERGIZER BUNNY. NOT ONLY DOES SHE TEACH AEROBICS, SHE’S HEAVILY INVOLVED IN THE COMMUNITY AND IS A NURSE PRACTITIONER NOW. ALL THE STORIES WE SHARED TONIGHT WERE INSPIRED BY YOU, OUR VIEWERS. YOU CAN SUBMIT IDEAS TO CHRONICLE AT WCVB.COM. PUT STORIES FROM YOU IN
Every weekday morning, before most of the world wakes up, a familiar rhythm fills the room at the Knights of Columbus in Walpole.For 45 years, these women have shown up — same place, same time — moving not just to the music, but through life together. What began as an aerobics class in the late 1970s became something far bigger.”We’ve been through children’s graduations, their weddings, their having children. Their children having children!”They were young mothers at the start — dropping kids at school, rushing in with ponytails and leg warmers, squeezing in one hour that belonged just to them.”We never thought we’d be here 40 years, no! We thought, once the kids are married, we’ll stop. Nah!”Proof that sometimes, the longest lasting bonds aren’t formed at major life milestones. But in an ordinary room, with a little music, and a shared story with a lot of soul.
Every weekday morning, before most of the world wakes up, a familiar rhythm fills the room at the Knights of Columbus in Walpole.
For 45 years, these women have shown up — same place, same time — moving not just to the music, but through life together. What began as an aerobics class in the late 1970s became something far bigger.
“We’ve been through children’s graduations, their weddings, their having children. Their children having children!”
They were young mothers at the start — dropping kids at school, rushing in with ponytails and leg warmers, squeezing in one hour that belonged just to them.
“We never thought we’d be here 40 years, no! We thought, once the kids are married, we’ll stop. Nah!”
Proof that sometimes, the longest lasting bonds aren’t formed at major life milestones. But in an ordinary room, with a little music, and a shared story with a lot of soul.
