For an 89-year-old Gilroy native with arthritis, the secret to
longevity starts with a good pair of sneakers.
”
I’ll walk until I drop,
”
said Ann Jaszewski, who’s turning 90 on Dec. 6 and will
commemorate the occasion with a Christmas Hill Park 5K charity walk
benefiting Gilroy’s Hospice of the Valley.
For an 89-year-old Gilroy native with arthritis, the secret to longevity starts with a good pair of sneakers.
“I’ll walk until I drop,” said Ann Jaszewski, who’s turning 90 on Dec. 6 and will commemorate the occasion with a Christmas Hill Park 5K charity walk benefiting Gilroy’s Hospice of the Valley.
Each week Jaszewski – who largely credits the vivacious bounce in her steps to an unwavering regimen of outdoor strolling – covers an approximate 15 miles between two separate walking groups.
The 15 miles she walks with both groups doesn’t include miscellaneous miles racked up for daily activities such as grabbing coffee, visiting the post office, shopping, serving lunches at the Senior Center or going to church.
Jaszewski wasn’t using her car so much, so she tossed her keys in April and has been getting along on foot just fine ever since.
“My thinking isn’t as fast, my eyesight isn’t as good, but I’m in good shape!” she reasoned. “I said to my kids, ‘you know what, I think I better quit while I’m ahead. Or before I kill somebody.’ And they said, ‘Mom, thank God.’ So I stopped driving six months ago.”
With her ninth decade of existence just around the bend, Jaszewski’s children Rick Jaszewski, 66, Terri Ryan, 57, and Suzie Munoz, 53, insisted on throwing a birthday bash in honor of their spunky matriarch.
To which Ann stubbornly declined.
She didn’t want anyone making a big fuss over her or her birthday.
“Oh, enough already,” she said, waving her hands at the camera Wednesday after pausing to have her picture taken.
Jaszewski’s family wasn’t going to let something as rare as a 90th mile-marker come and go without the trappings, though.
So they came up with AnnJam: A 5K Charity Walk and Celebration scheduled from 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Saturday at Christmas Hill Park in Gilroy, complete with raffle prizes and live entertainment by the Jim Hauer Band and quartet group Garlic City Harmony. Proceeds collected from sponsorships and the entry fees – which cost $30 and include a shirt, continental breakfast and party favors – will go to Hospice of the Valley, an organization Jaszewski has a close relationship with.
Jaszewski praises hospice personnel, whom she leaned on when her husband Dave Jaszewski, 62, was diagnosed and subsequently passed away from colon cancer in 1980. Her second oldest son, Gary Jaszewski, then 60, followed in 2008 after succumbing to esophageal cancer.
Suzanne Jaszewski, Ann’s daughter-in-law and Gary’s wife, said hospice staff was at the family’s beck and call every step of the way and was an emotional life saver.
“Hospice made it possible for (Gary) to be home,” said Suzanne, 63. “He was able to watch videos with his granddaughters. It was wonderful for me to be with him without doing the daily back and forth.”
When she learned of AnnJam, which her daughters organized as a surprise, Ann said she was stunned for two days. She’s still shocked by the response they’re continuing to receive from the community, and speaks giddily of the marathon as its date approaches.
“The response has been so wonderful,” said Ann. “Times are tough now. People don’t have the money, but we have been getting donations left and right.”
Presently there are 125 people registered for the event, and Ann expects that number to reach around 150.
Organizers are emphasizing the marathon will happen, regardless of the weather. The AnnJam flier states: “Ann walks in the rain – we can too!”
Five kilometers is a piece of cake for this spirited senior, who already has a plethora of walking marathons under her belt. She and her “seasoned walkers” – the group she’s conducted all over town for the past 25 years – meet every Wednesday in various locations and cover six miles together.
For those who can’t make it in the middle of the week, Ann has a secondary option to counter any excuses. She leads a newer group that meets Saturdays and walks between six to eight miles.
Most importantly, she mentions with the knowing wag of a finger, the walks generally conclude at someplace with food. It gives walkers something to look forward to.
And for anyone who complains about waking up early to walk, Ann sassily rebukes whatever justifications may come her way.
“It’s called an alarm clock,” she said, taking a feisty stance and putting her hands on her hips. “Ever heard of one of those?”
Suzanne, who’s known Ann for 46 years, said it’s this kind of chirpy charisma that continuously draws people to her mother-in-law.
“She keeps herself young by surrounding herself with people of all ages,” Suzanne said Wednesday, peering ahead at the agile elder as she spiritedly charged forward in front of the group with brisk strides.
On turning 90, the self-declared walkaholic asserted she doesn’t feel any different then she did 20 years ago. She said staying active with hobbies such as 18 years of line dancing and meticulously caring for her 62 rose bushes has been a powerful elixir.
That, and a positive mentality. Getting older, she said, is a mind-over-matter process.
“Attitude has a lot to do with aging,” Ann insisted, with a wave of the hand. “It’s only a number.”
During her Wednesday route, which passed by Ann’s house, she stopped briefly to give a quick tour of her intricate garden, which she painstakingly cares for and prunes to every detailed degree.
She said dismissing her gardener and giving up arthritis medications were the best things she’s ever done for her health.
As long as she kept moving, she found she could do without the prescriptions.
So that’s exactly what she’ll continue to do.
“I love Gilroy,” said Ann, smiling at the wide street sprawling ahead, pointing out the fall foliage.
“The trees – sometimes the trees embrace each other.”
She illustrated by arching her arms into an umbrella.
Ann was born in Soledad in 1920. Though her family moved to Gilroy when she was 1, Ann vehemently considers herself a Gilroy native, fondly recalling her sweeping decades of residence in Gilroy – a place she said people once referred to as “the one-horse town.”
She spoke of growing up during the Depression, making paper dolls from Montgomery Ward catalog pages and working at Woolworth’s on Monterey Street as a window trimmer after graduating from Gilroy High School in 1938. She was paid the tidy sum of $14 a week – plus a 50 cents bonus at Christmas time – and gave all but $2 of every paycheck to her parents.
“That’s how I know poverty,” said Ann. “It made me appreciate things.”
Ann met the love of her life, Dave Jaszewski, in 1940 when he was stationed at Fort Ord Army Base in Monterey during WWII. They married two years later at St. Mary’s Church on First Street, where Ann said her guests actually broke the old floorboards with excessive dancing.
In 1944, her husband was sent to the South Pacific with the Medical Corps.
“I was devastated,” Ann remembered. “Because I just found out I was pregnant.”
When Dave returned in 1946, he was greeted by an ecstatic young wife and an 18-month-old son named Rick.
The couple vowed to never to be apart again, and worked side-by-side as owners of the Pollyanna Bakery on Monterey and Sixth Street for 32 years after purchasing the business in 1949.
They were getting ready to retire when Dave became ill.
Since then, she’s kept busy by working in her garden, traveling and volunteering.
Her efforts include donating time to the Gilroy Garlic Festival for 28 years and the Red Cross for 20.
As she ambled down the sidewalk and chatted cheerfully with her walking companions, Ann showed no signs of slowing down any time soon.
Supporting the hospice, she said, is a way of bringing her son and late husband back into her life.
“It’s like my son is still here, looking out for me, saying, ‘Mom, everything is fine. Have a good time,’ ” Ann said.
She paused in her garden as she spoke, pointing to an ornate wooden rose Gary hand-carved for her before he passed away.
“My daily prayer is ‘thank you God for my health, my family, and my friends,’ ” she said. “I’m very lucky.”
***
When: 8 a.m. check-in Saturday, walk begins at 8:30 a.m. along with a 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. celebration. Walkers must complete the course by 10 a.m.
Where: The picnic area of Christmas Hill Park; 750 Miller Avenue in Gilroy. Arrive between 8 and 8:20 a.m.
Cost: $30
Details: 462-1266 or annjam.org/info. For questions about weekly walks, call Suzanne at 499-4445.
