who was a member of the 1937 Springfield College national champion soccer team. “He said the body would atrophy from disuse and, boy, that impressed me!” he says. “It was important to encourage others to be active because not everyone had opportunity to be in class with Dr. Karpovich,” he explains. “It would be immoral for me not to show other people the ways they can improve their life and their longevity.” Today, Ward is a volunteer at the


Fairhaven (Mass.) Senior Center, where he started a walking program, and is active in his church. “I have a pin on every jacket I own—the


David Ward


the age of 92. In the years between, he ran a sailing and summer camp, taught physical education on Nantucket and in the Braintree (Mass.) Public School System (Ward retired in 1972), and sailed, skied, and played tennis. In 1991, Ward became interested in


competition and started in the Senior Olympics, competing on the state and national levels annually until 2007. He was in his 70s when he began training as a cyclist. A female friend of his—a triathlete—wanted to compete, so he trained with her. “I regis- tered for the next competition and just kept going,” he says, adding that he later moved from triathlons to cycling. Ward, in fact, did just “keep going” and


rode his bike, drove his car, and sailed his boats into his 90s. (In 1986, Ward was the oldest competitor in the Atlantic Race for Cruising Yachts, a transatlantic race from the Canary Islands to Barbados.) “Not that I chose to [stop],” he says, “but I was advised to by my doctors.” Dedication to a career as a physical educa-


tor encompassed most of his life. In addition to teaching, coaching (football, basketball, and track), and running his Camp Seaspace—a sailing and day camp—for 25 years, Ward advocated for and set an exam- ple of healthy living, as well as wrote a newspaper column on living a fit lifestyle. He learned his approach to fitness and


health from Dr. Peter Karpovich, professor. “He told us ‘you have to use your body or you will soon lose the ability to function.’ We now say ‘use it or lose it,’” explains Ward,


TRIANGLE 1 Vol . 82, No. 1 Dottie Potter Zenaty


something positive of her experience so that others could benefit. She made it the work of her Distinguished Springfield Humanics professorship to alert the campus community to the illness, as well as open the dialogue on the topic and provide a forum in which students could talk about how the illness had affected them. She did all this while going on to live her life in a way that many would


spirit-mind-body triangle—and I’m delight- ed to tell people what it means. And to me it is an attitude of wanting to serve your fellow man. It’s only by example,” he says. “I think that is an obligation of mine. “I have been very proud to be an alumnus


of Springfield College. If I had any success at all, it started there.”


Genes, Attitude, or a Healthy Combination of Both?


If attitude is a reliable predictor of longevity, then Dottie Potter Zenaty ’65 will live forever. Her husband, Bert, had had Alzheimer’s disease. And, in the difficult year following his death, Zenaty chose to make


think belies the pain that she underwent while caring for Bert. “Life is short,” she says. “There is no time


for bitterness or hurtful feelings. “You just have to have a positive outlook


on life,” she adds. “I always did.” Good genes probably help a little, too. Zenaty’s mother is 93 and her father, 91, and both are still active. “Cognitively, they’re both better than I am,” she jokes. “I hope to have that longevi- ty and that it didn’t skip a generation,” she says. “Mom always encouraged me to get into


everything. So, with cousins and friends, I ventured down the field…I skied, played tennis, twirled the baton, and camped,” she says. “I was fortunate at my age to have high school sports,” she adds. In 2009, her fifth year of retirement,


Zenaty played more than 125 rounds of golf and skied more than 30 times. She’s in a table tennis league and is a high school and collegiate (Divisions II and III) field hockey official. “House work is at the bottom of my list.” Zenaty celebrated her 45th Reunion this


year. “At every event, every reunion where all our alumni return, I wish that our current students could be here and see how this institution has affected them,” she explains. “I wish they could see and listen to those folks who came before them … Our students are active people. Even if they’re not athletes, they are doers!” And she wants students to know that staying involved leads to longevity. “It’s important to be social and interac-


tive,” she exhorts. “Sitting at home in dark dreary weather isn’t good. Interaction is important. You can always find people with the same interests as you. “I still get so excited about life … Life is


good. I am fortunate that I have my body. I have a creaky knee, but other than that….”


Mountains as Soul Food


Maggie Cox Land ’58 describes herself as someone who has been a spiritual person for many years. “As I age, that part of me is more in balance with the other sides of the trian- gle. I live in Jackson, Wy., and it has been my ‘heart place’ for many years,” she says. “The Tetons are a constant reminder of God, mira-


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