Lorraine Acre may not be the strongest or most muscular member of the Iron Integrity gym in De Soto, but she has been inspiring those around her, especially when they learn she’s 97 years old.
“I turn 98 in November,” said Acre, who lives in De Soto.
Three mornings a week, Acre spends 45 minutes with her 83-year-old friend, Sarah Brown working out at the gym on Hwy. 21 near Hwy. 110 in De Soto.
Jake Wycoff, who owns the De Soto gym and another one in Union, said it is absolutely inspiring and astonishing to see the older gym members, like Acre, care for their health and keep moving.
He believes she is the oldest member of the gym, but went on to name four members in their 80s who regularly work out.
He said people like Acre encourage others who are decades younger.
“It is obviously inspiring to the folks who are young to them but still older,” he said.
Acre grew up on a farm in Poplar Bluff and moved in 1958 to De Soto where she and her husband, Harry, who died in 2011, took teaching jobs.
They raised their children, Forrest “Frosty” Acre and Valerie Eades, in De Soto.
Acre said she also has seven grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren, with another on the way.
Acre said exercising has been a part of her life, adding that when she was 80, she had a daily at-home exercise routine that included sit-ups, push-ups, stretching exercises and lifting 10-pound free weights.
She retired from teaching elementary school students in the De Soto School District in 1994 at the age of 68 but continued as a substitute teacher for kindergarten through sixth grade students until she was 80.
Acre said she only stopped subbing because macular degeneration blurred her vision to the point she couldn’t drive.
She said she remembers when she decided to stop driving.
Acre was driving to church one Sunday and was a block from her home when a car suddenly popped out of nowhere. She went back home, cried a little and made two more attempts.
“(Again, a car) was right here at me before I saw it,” she said. “I sat out there and I never cried so hard in all my life, having to give up my car. I knew this was my last time. So, I went next door and got a neighbor to take me to church.”
With vision problems, she believes her other senses have heightened and finds herself recognizing people by their walk or their touch.
Her daughter said Acre doesn’t let her vision loss get her down.
“God is so good to me,” Acre said. “I tell you every time I need somebody to do something, he provides it. If something breaks at my house or something goes wrong, God provides somebody to take care of it.”
Brown takes Acre to the gym.
The two met there, and it turned out they had several things in common. They live just blocks away from each other and both grew up in southeast Missouri on farms.
Brown, originally from Malden, works out four days a week at the gym.
She said she is amazed at how many machines her 97-year-old friend can do.
“She’s our hero,” Brown said.
Eades, who retired from Scott City Schools in 2000, recently joined the gym and tries to go the same time as her mom, but it’s “hit or miss” depending on if she is watching her grandchildren or has stumbled upon a good read she can’t put down.
Acre finds a little bit of humor and pride in her abilities.
“I do 110 pounds on (the leg press). What do you do on it?” Acre asked her daughter.
“Fifty,” Eades responded.
“Fifty? Well, I started out on 30 on that years ago and then I built up to it,” Acre said.
“I think this (leg press) machine helps me about as much as anything I do out here with my balance,” she said. “It strengthens my legs. And then I put my feet like this and it strengthens my ankles and the muscles on the back of my leg and everything else.”
Acre, who still does her own cooking and laundry, believes the exercises also help her maintain her upper body strength and the ability to reach things on the shelf.
“I don’t think she’d be mobile if she didn’t (exercise),” Eades said. “Walking is slow for her and going up steps is hard, but she does it all the time. She pushes herself. If she never came out here, I think it would really be hard just because her body is old.”
Eades said her mom doesn’t have a lot of lung capacity and the doctors believe it is age-related. Otherwise, her mom is healthy.
Eades said doctors tell her mom “just don’t try to run everywhere you go.”
But, it’s hard to hold her back, Eades said.
“She gets in her mind what she wants to do and she’s on a mission and she doesn’t walk slowly,” Eades said. “She’s like, ‘I’ve got to get this done.’ She’s a shaker and a mover. But she really does do everything for herself that she can.”
Eades said Acre recently had an upper respiratory infection and it took her three and a half weeks to recover.
“But for like 10 or 12 days in a row, I had to go do everything for her and I was reminded how much she does for herself because,” Eades said. “I mean, she can’t drive. I do her bank statement at the end of the month. I put in the light bulb. I carry something to the basement. There’s plenty of stuff I help with, but she does the bulk of taking care of herself.”
Acre said she keeps a good attitude.
“I’m a Christian and I love the Lord,” she said. “I’m a sinner saved by grace.”
Acre said she enjoys listening to music and listening to audiobooks.
“You have to learn to listen and stay focused, and that helps me mentally because I can keep up with the story,” she said. “I get so many sequels that I know everybody in the book. They’ll mention something that happened two or three books (ago) and I remember it, so that’s good for my mind to keep me mentally alert.”