“It’s great to grow old in Dublin.”
Undoubtedly an opinion shared by many Dubliners and something 89-year-old Bill Crecelius proclaimed while sitting in a Panera in Dublin. The very same place he’s visited for decades, with a handful of friends he’s met through the Dublin Community Recreation Center (DCRC) surrounding the table.
Crecelius, like many of his peers, has been attending the rec center since its opening in 1996. In those early years, working out and meeting up for coffee afterward didn’t happen
Considered the ringleader of the group, other members credit Crecelius with starting a workout group and rallying friends for post-exercise coffee. Growing from getting coffee alone, to asking his neighbor to join and then to a few more friends, the group has blossomed into a cherished community that includes a few dozen residents.
Who are these gym rats?
Despite referring to themselves as a group, they are not an official organization or club with rules and regulations. There are no applications, no voting on who gets let in each year and certainly no judgment regarding who wants to join the fun. They are simply a group of older adults in Dublin who wish to stay active and build relationships within a social community.
Rec-center members
“When you’re out in the business world, and I did that for 44 years, you have the constant ability for socialization,” says Jay Matthews, who has lived in Dublin for 33 years with his wife, Ruth. “When you retire, your socialization starts at home and then you have to build it from there. And this is part of how we build it.”
The group is a revolving door of more than a dozen individuals. Some visit the center every day while others go two or three times a week. Everyone comes and goes as they please, though they tend to exercise from 7-8:30 a.m., to start their day off on a high note.
While not everyone joins the 9 a.m. coffee after getting a good sweat in, all are welcome for the conversations and laughs. Even I, a 21-year-old college kid, was invited to share a cup and was dubbed by the group as a “lifer” when I sat next to them.
“Once you get here, you’re a life member!” Crecelius says.
Active, healthy and happy
With countless amenities and means of staying fit at the DCRC, Jim Wall says the group partakes in a range of exercises that fall “all over the dart board.” Some enjoy lifting weights or walking up sets of stairs, while others feel a dip in the swimming pool every now and then is how they’d like to stay active.
The group does not move in a herd, following each other to every machine and water fountain, following the same workout routine. Rather, each person freely exercises as they please, with or without other members, knowing there is a scattered group of friends around the building to spark conversation with to make their time more enjoyable.
With individuals focusing on their own goals and health, there is a sense of encouragement among the group, eliminating any kind of judgment or competition.
“We don’t have to compete, our competing is over with,” Crecelius says. “That was when we worked. So everybody’s just kinder and more mellow. People don’t get upset.”
More than fitness
A common concern for many recent retirees is how to spend the available time they gain after retirement and where they should turn to for support, structure and socialization. For Wall, who retired about three years ago, joining this group at the rec center was a great way to further grow his relationships in the community and connect with others who understand the post-retirement situation.
“When you first retire, you feel maybe a little bit lost,” Wall says. “You’re transitioning in life, but there are other people that are going through the same and others who have gone through the same thing. There's a community.”
And for this small community of rec center members, it goes even further than offering a new gym partner or fellow retiree-friendship. This group offers meaningful connections and care for each other.
“If somebody gets sick, we get a get well card and we have everybody sign it that’s working out,” Crecelius says. “No matter if they know them or not, we ask them to sign.”
Making trips to Waldo for fried bologna sandwiches at the G&R Tavern, testing their luck with lottery tickets and celebrating birthdays - most recently, around 50 people attended a surprise party at the rec center for Charlotte Farmer’s 90th birthday - are just a few of the ways the group likes to spend time together outside of the gym.
For Fred Myers, the upbeat and positive nature of this group has made interacting with one another, whether that be at the rec center or going out for dinner, a very important part of his life.
“One word is routine, we all make it a routine,” Myers says. “It’s very important to have that in our lives.”
Jim Freiberg agrees, and with both the fitness and social benefits, being part of the group is a major aspect of his life in Dublin.
“My commitment in life is to good health and longevity. This group is all a part of that,” Freiberg says. “Not just working out. But also meeting people that I never knew in my life until I started going to the rec center. Been there for 20 years. I wouldn’t trade it for the world.”
Kyle Quinlan is an editorial assistant at CityScene Media Group. Feedback welcome at feedback@cityscenemediagroup.com.
