Marion Peck has never let age, nor a knee replacement, stop her from living life to the fullest. When she’s not playing bridge with her friends, the 101-year-old Le Sueur resident can usually be found lifting hand weights and working her muscles in SilverSneakers exercise classes at the Le Sueur Community Center.
For more than 40 years, Peck has been going to SilverSneakers classes with gusto. She’s a well-known regular at the Community Center fitness program, attending the hour-long sessions three to four times a week. The only time the centenarian hasn’t shown up to class was when she had a knee replaced last year. But within a month, Peck was back to resistance training with the rest of the group.
“Everybody should exercise until the day we kick the bucket,” said Peck. “Because we all need to stay in motion or else we’ll just get to be stiff and crotchety.”
Peck’s unwavering commitment to fitness hasn’t gone unnoticed. SilverSneakers, which offers senior-focused exercise programs at thousands of fitness centers nationwide, recently declared Peck a finalist for the organization’s 20th annual Member of the Year award.
“[Peck’s] presence serves as a powerful reminder that age is no barrier to living a vibrant life and her can-do attitude inspires others to embrace movement and overcome their own obstacles,” reads the nomination on the SilverSneakers website. “Marion’s energy is a reminder that age is just a number, and staying active is a lifelong journey. She proves that with determination and a positive mindset, we can thrive at any age.”
The lifelong Le Sueur resident was nominated alongside a batch of nine other finalists from across the nation. People have until June 28 to vote for their favorite by going to the SilverSneakers Member of the Year Award website. The winner will be announced July 22 after the votes are tallied up.
“It’s so much fun and unbelievable,” Peck said of the nomination.
Upon learning that she was a finalist for the prestigious award, Peck has been campaigning to get as many people to vote for her as she can. The Navy veteran said she even has folks at the VA hospital casting votes in support of her nomination.
She’s just inspiring because age is just a number and as long as you keep moving and have a purpose, you can do anything,” said local SilverSneakers instructor Kris Krause. “I am extremely honored to have her part of the class and I’m continually motivated by her example.”
Long before Peck was defying expectations of what a centenarian can do, she was challenging perceptions of what a woman can achieve. During World War II. Peck became the first Le Sueur woman to serve in the military, enlisting through the WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service) program, which was established in 1942 to bolster America’s need for naval personnel.
She joined the military at the age of 20 and spent two and a half years working in the payroll office of the Naval Midshipman School at the University of Notre Dame. There, she manned the Navy telephone switchboard and handled payroll for hundreds of naval undergraduates.
After the war, she continued her military service in the barracks of the Naval Air Station in Corpus Christi, Texas, where she met her husband Bill Peck. The couple had five children, two of whom became pilots, giving Peck the opportunity to travel to 87 different countries over her lifetime.
While traveling, Peck has taken on volunteer jobs overseas in places like Africa, Vietnam. Poland and Sri Lanka. She continues to be a globetrotter to this day and is ready to have her suitcase packed whenever the opportunity for a trip arises.
Peck has not only kept her body fit throughout her life, but her mind sharp. Proving that learning is lifelong, Peck began taking college courses at the age of 77 at Minnesota State University, Mankato. Her favorite courses focus on the arts and architecture.
“You should live every moment of your life in a joyful way,” said Peck. “But the thing is you have to make your own way and choose to get off your butt and start doing things.”
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