No fear of the water

Daily News (West Bend, Wis.)
Published: Sept. 13, 2013

By NICHOLAS DETTMANN
Daily News Staff

Edith Schultz loves the water, even if it scared her almost three generations earlier.
When she was 6 years old, she and her family were vacationing at a lake. She sat on her father's shoulders as they walked into the lake. When they came to a small ridge under the surface, her father stumbled and she fell off his shoulders and into the water. A friend quickly pulled her out.
She didn't want to be afraid.
When she was 10, she taught herself how to swim by hanging to a rope in deep water and pretending to swim. When she let go of the rope, she floated and swam.
"I just always loved the water," she said. "I've always loved to swim."
She only likes to swim in a pool, not a lake.
"I don't like the weeds touching my legs," she joked, adding with a whisper she doesn't like to swim with the fish ... er, leavings.
"I really should be afraid of the water," she added with a smile.
Schultz turned 90 in April, but it doesn't show. She doesn't have a sedentary lifestyle. She swims about three times a week for an hour, she walks, stretches and eats healthily.
Growing up she didn't have a lot of reasons to adopt a healthy lifestyle. Her father smoked and died of lung cancer, but was 80 when he died. He quit smoking at 50.
"I always try to do the right thing and stay healthy," she said.
On Saturday, she'll compete in the Wisconsin Senior Olympics at the Shorewood Recreation and Community Services VHE Community Pool, where she'll swim in three events. She's been doing the event each year since 2006 and has won 20 medals.
The Senior Olympics is for athletes 50 and older.
"I wanted to defy that," she said about what happened to her when she was 6. "I'm not going to be afraid of the water."
Schultz loves what swimming has to offer: physical and mental relief.
Swimming is a low-impact exercise because it doesn't cause stress to one's joints. It is also one of the best forms of cardiovascular exercise as it is a full-body workout.
"I love to swim," Schultz said.
Schultz grew up in Lodz, Poland, about four and a half hours east of Berlin, but is of German ancestry. Throughout her childhood, she swam whenever she could find the time, whether it was at school or at the local YMCA.
She moved to the United States in 1948 and lived in Douglas County. She was 25 at the time.
She moved to the U.S. because she met this good-looking guy who was stationed at an airport outside of Munich, which was controlled by the U.S. She left Poland when Russia invaded the country during the early weeks of World War II and she went to Germany.
At that time, there was no civil, or private, mail from Europe to the U.S. So she asked a young man, an American soldier, if he could mail a letter for her. She'd write the letter and he'd mail it back to the U.S., where she had family in New Jersey. The family would then write back to him and he'd deliver the letter to her, as a messenger.
Some time later, the young man was discharged and returned home to the U.S. She asked him to introduce her to another soldier who could continue their agreement.
That man, Robert, became her husband and they were married for 52 years. He died in 2000.
"He was watching me all the time," she said with a smile.
For the next three years, Schultz lived alone in a big place at Voyager Village in Webster. She got lonely.
"It got too much for me to take care of the outside," Schultz said. "So I was looking for a place to move to retire."
While there, she became friends with a couple that went on to retire and move to Cedarburg. They discovered Cedar Ridge in West Bend.
"She said, 'You have to come down and see this,'" Schultz recalled.
Schultz took the tour and liked what she saw. She was convinced Cedar Ridge was the place for her the moment she saw the pool.
"My mind was made up," she said. "That was it. I wanted to live here."
She moved in March 2003.
For the next three years, she swam recreationally, but often.
"It's relaxing," Schultz said. "My doctor always tells me it's the best exercise I can do."
At 90, Schultz doesn't take any medications and doesn't need any canes or walkers to help her get around.
A neighbor, who was 91 in 2006, introduced her to the Senior Olympics. She was a competitive swimmer.
"When they met me, they said, 'Come on. Do it,'" Schultz said. "So I did."
She won two medals in her first attempt.
"I always just did it for fun," she said.
She also likes being the unofficial spokeswoman for healthy living. She eats fresh vegetables and doesn't drink soda. She also walks a lot and encourages people to not quit if you feel a little pain. That's a good sign.
"I just go to the doctor once a year and my tests are always normal," Schultz said.
"I always feel rejuvenated," she added about what she feels after a good swim. "It makes me feel good."
She wants you to feel good, too.