Joy Krug talks active aging

Joy Krug is amazing! At age 76, she is busy every day with healthy living fitness classes. A regular at the Parkview Noble Center for Healthy Living, Joy admits, “I want to live until I die. And a big part of that is staying active and staying connected.”

And live she does in a lake home in Kendallville. After a 40-plus-year career in education, the self-professed workaholic retired in 2004 from Westview Schools in LaGrange County, where she served 32 years as a school psychologist, curriculum director and special services director. Prior to that, she taught second grade at East Noble and worked for three schools in the Co-Op before Westview hired her fulltime.

“It is amazing I didn’t have a stroke during that time. I had high blood pressure, high cholesterol and was overweight. The first thing I did when I retired was get a grasp on my health,” she added.

Joy, a constant learner, traveled a lot the first year of retirement. She said she had a dream of riding a horse along the Pacific Ocean and seeing the California redwoods. She did both of those things, and when she came home from that trip, she bought herself a horse, “Goody,” who she still has today and tries to ride about three times a week.

Around that time, she also contacted Parkview Noble Hospital and worked with then-Vice President of Patient Services, Cathy Byrd, to offer some fitness classes using the community meeting rooms available at the hospital. Joy hired the two instructors, Mona Beesley and Lisa Kohne, to teach tai chi and yoga. A group of ladies attended regularly.

Then several years ago, Parkview Health began making plans to offer healthy living classes and creating an on-campus center, both in Fort Wayne and on the Kendallville hospital campuses. With Joy as a strong proponent of this project, her teachers became instructors at the Parkview Noble Center for Healthy Living.

“They have everything here at the Center for Healthy Living,” Joy exclaimed. “There are art classes, fitness classes, cooking demonstrations and so much more. I have taken some of the art classes and have enjoyed them so much. But I say that I want to be an Artist of Life, too.”

Joy also recently participated in one of the Center for Healthy Living’s signature programs, “My Best Health”, which is geared toward just for weight loss but also a healthy lifestyle. Joy excelled and said in the process of her new active lifestyle, she’s lost 50 pounds and still takes no medicine. “After My Best Health all of my numbers (BP, cholesterol, etc.) are where they should be.”

This is especially important to Joy because everyone in her family has passed away from heart disease. “If I can avoid that problem, I will be very happy. I’m staying active and intend to live my life to the very end and enjoy it all the way.”

Here is Joy’s fitness schedule:

• Tai Chi, Chair Yoga and Zumba at the Center for Health Living on Mondays
• Class at the YMCA on Tuesdays
• Energy dance and Yoga at the Center for Healthy Living on Wednesdays
• She meets up with a friend for lunch in Goshen on Thursdays and they take a pound class together
• And she spends Fridays on her own – frequently taking one of her horse rides.

And that isn’t all. Joy has been a caregiver for up to three people over the past eight years. She now cares for one who has early onset Alzheimer’s and has moved into a facility in Goshen. “Early onset Alzheimer’s is an evil disease,” Joy said. “I’ve found that with caring for this friend, I try to keep her connected so she can still tap into love and beauty. I am constantly searching for new opportunities to learn, which is a big part of me staying connected, too.”

Joy has a group of high school friends she still gets together with on a monthly basis. She also stays connected with children. Having been in education for many years, she finds that an integral part of learning and teaching.

Joy said she created a mission statement for her life several years ago and offered to share it with us here for others to use or adapt to their own lives.

A Mission of Joy

I believe that, within God

I LIVE by

• Choosing
• Centering
• Creating
• Connecting
• Celebrating

I LOVE by

• Being present and listening
• Being aware
• Giving
• Sharing
• Committing

I LEARN by

• Experiencing
• Making meaning
• Observing the whole
• Doing
• Practicing

I leave a legacy of Joy, thankfulness, passion and empowerment.