Modeling a Healthy Lifestyle

Ruby Enoch, 88, Alamance Burlington Senior Games

Ruby got involved with Senior Games when she happened to see an article about Senior Games in the newspaper. “I learned more about it, and it was something that caught my interest,” Ruby says. One thing led to another and now she has been a participant for more than 20 years. “I enjoy people, and this is a way of being active in the community.” Some of her favorite events include tennis, bowling, pickleball, badminton, cornhole, bocce, horseshoes, and shuffleboard. And that’s just some of them!

Ruby grew up in Alamance County, where she was an active kid. She played basketball and enjoyed playing around in the neighborhood. “Jumping rope, shooting marbles, modified baseball, I had a lot of fun staying active growing up. I suppose I've been pretty active all my life, and then as I got older I learned along the way the importance of movement, that motion brings lotion.”

Living an active lifestyle is important to Ruby. “I'd say that [Senior Games] plays a very important role in my life physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually because I'm interacting with people, I'm moving, I'm able to stay active as a senior person,” she says. “Senior Games is a lot of fun, and there are a lot of benefits at my age. I don't walk with any type of assistance and I'm independent. I wake up and I look forward to each and every day.” 

Ruby also understands the importance of modeling a healthy lifestyle for her family and younger generations. Her two grandsons would come and spend summers with her when they were children. “Even though I was in my fifties and sixties, we still played with them year-to-year,” she says. “From time to time, they'll mention the importance of having a grown up playing with us and doing all of the things that we would do in the summer.” Even now that her grandchildren have grown up, they still take fitness cues from their grandmother. Ruby picked up yoga when she moved to a retirement community and told her grandson all about it. He decided to try it out too. “Now, of course, he’s much more flexible than me!”, she says.

One of her favorite Senior Games memories is the start of her Badminton career. A man in her area was looking for a Badminton partner, and the Director of Parks & Recreation in Burlington pointed him her way. She had never played, but decided to give it a try. “On the local level it wasn't too difficult, but when I got to State Finals, oh boy!” Ruby competed against the same woman every year at State Finals, and lost to her every time for the first two or three years.  “Then in 2003, I defeated her! I was so excited!” she says, “And I was very pleased that I was improving along the way.” 

In 2016, Ruby was the recipient of the Betsy Brown Chandler Spirit Award an award voted on by Alamance Burlington Senior Games participants. She has competed at National Senior Games, won too many Local Games and State Finals medals to count. 

Ruby is a great example of healthy aging. “If you stay around you're going to get older, it's just how you view the whole process,” she says.