My guest this week on “Ageless” was 79-year old Eve Green. From her bio, I knew she had been a middle-school science teacher, but what I didn’t realize until we met face to face was that she was my science teacher in 8th grade! (Known back then as Mrs. Rintoul, she had since remarried and changed her name.)
If I had thought about her at all over the years, I would have guessed that she had quietly retired to some warm locale. How wrong I would have been. At age 61, shortly after ending her 28-year teaching career, she decided to become a competitive rower. Joining the Saugatuck Rowing Club, she not only discovered that she loved the sport but also ended up making many new friends. She told me that even though she was the oldest woman there, no one treated her like she was 61 years old. They treated her like an athlete.
Her 70s, she went on to say, have been some of the best years of her life. She’s won countless races in her age division, including the prestigious Head of the Charles Regatta (10 times in all!), the FISA World Rowing Masters Regatta in Glasgow, Scotland, and the US Rowing National Masters Championship in Worcester, MA.
“Rowing requires 100 percent of your body and mind,” she said. “You’re not daydreaming. You’re simply happy.” When I asked her how long she planned to continue competing, she chuckled and replied, “Until I’m six feet under the ground.”
