Minnesotan To Meet: Jean Spannaus, 92, & Her Healthy, Active Life
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Just getting to the age of 90 years old is a feat all by itself. Now, add in activities like driving, working out and going to baseball games.
Some of us aren't good at balancing those things at a third of that age. Then you meet Jean Spannaus, who, at 92 years old, works out two days a week and is the inspiration to many.
That's what makes her this week's Minnesotan to Meet.
While most hang up the car keys and kick up their feet in older age, Spannaus has visited a Little Canada Curves more than a thousand times.
"It's good exercise for me," Spannaus said, "I think it's almost 10 years ago we started."
She and her daughter, Donna, do the circuits together.
"I come with her on Monday nights, she picks me up," Spannaus said.
On the weekends, she drives herself.
The supportive atmosphere is what kept Spannaus coming back, even after double bypass surgery.
"Everybody's friendly, they make allowances because I move slow," Spannaus said.
It doesn't matter the pace, Spannaus has always been on the go.
"After high school, I went to business college for six months then I got a secretarial job," Spannaus said.
Then the marriage came, which resulted in three kids, three grand kids and now three great grand kids.
She worked well into her 70s at Mississippi Creative Arts School, where she was known for her sense of humor. And she lived in the same house in St. Paul for 67 years, before heading into senior housing.
But the move never stopped her.
Spannaus crochets prayer shawls and baby blankets at St. Timothy Lutheran Church. She also takes care of her younger sister, who is 90.
The ladies at Curves also include her on outings, one of her favorites was going with her daughter on the light rail to her first-ever Twins game.
"I got on the train and that was a new experience, on the way back someone stopped and asked if it was my first Twin's game," Spannaus said.
They gave her a certificate she proudly talks about.
"They won the game, too, so that's a plus," Spannaus said.
To most at Curves, Spannaus is the real winner.
It's an inspiration to all that no matter what age you are, you just have to keep living.
By the way, if the Spannaus name sounds familiar, she's the sister-in-law of former Minnesota Attorney General Warren Spannaus.
