The recipient of this week's Ben's Bell is fitness instructor Mary Byrnes.
She was nominated by Barbara Goldberg, whose 85-year-old mother, Bertha Segal is in Byrnes' exercise classes for older members at the Tucson Jewish Community Center.
"Mary knows if my mom or any other member just does not look 100 percent or needs to sit down during class," Goldberg wrote in her nomination. "She understands when they need to make a doctor's appointment or need a glass of water during class. She patiently explains just how a senior citizen should use a 5-pound weight or try an activity with no weight at all.
"She cares and worries about each aging participant. Mary nudges her seniors to push a bit harder, walk a smidge more or just remember to get out of the house and come to class. Mary inherently knows that just the socialization of an exercise class at the JCC is making many of our local senior citizens more active members of our Tucson community," Goldberg wrote.
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Byrnes has been teaching fitness classes at the JCC for 20 years. She adapts exercises to meet the physical abilities of individual students to increase their fitness and flexibility. The oldest participants in her classes are 92.
Her students are "anxious to keep their bodies upright, to keep what they have going, to stay active with their life," Byrnes said. "The alternative is sitting in a chair, and they don't want to do that. They want to feel a vibrancy of the self.
"They love it and that's why I love teaching it, because it's so important for them."
Contact reporter Kimberly Matas at kmatas@azstarnet.com or at 573-4191.
