70-year-old Celina woman schussing
along
By JANIE SOUTHARD
jsouthard@dailystandard.com
Some say the aging process is all downhill, but that suits Nancy
Desch just fine.
Armed with good downhill equipment, Desch celebrated her 70th
birthday in January shortly after returning from a ski trip
to Utah.
Skiing has not been a lifelong pastime for the retired obstetrics
nurse, she was 40 years old before she took to the slopes.
“I love winter and always have, although I don’t
say that around a lot of people especially with all this ice
we’ve had this year. And I’ve always loved sports.
So (skiing) was a natural,” Desch told The Daily Standard
last week in her cozy kitchen with its entire wall of photos
of family and friends.
It was during the first few years that Mad River Mountain in
Bellefontaine opened when Desch announced to her then-teenage
son Michael that they were heading to Bellefontaine to “see
what skiing is all about.”
They loved it and since then Desch has en-joyed skiing in Utah
and Michigan as well as in Europe, plus she still skis at Mad
River a couple times a week with a group of area women.
“We don’t go (to Mad River) on nights or weekends,
just too many people. But during the week, it’s really
a very nice place to ski,” she said.
Although she’s not the only senior citizen on skis by
any means, she is perhaps one of a few in the county.
“The way I look at it, you can either sit home and feel
sorry for yourself or get out and get on with your life,”
said Desch, who credits her sunny practicality to her late parents,
Louis and Agnes “Toody” Sacher, who she said were
both “a lot of fun.”
Following her divorce many years ago, she and Michael moved
in with her parents in the house where Desch grew up. She worked
at Gibbons Hospital, always in obstetrics.
“Oh, it was a wonderful job. Over my 30 years there were
more than 9,700 babies delivered at Gibbons, and I think I was
there for almost all of them,” she said.
Many years ago she acquired a little two-person camper, which
she still keeps in action during the warmer months. For years,
she has camped with a group of buddies from Celina.
“Well, again, it’s being outside. I like the outdoors
and have always loved camping. It was my hobby long before skiing,”
she said.
She considers herself an active person, but not one given to
a regimented exercise program. Her daily exercise has always
come from walking. But not a lot of aimless walking.
She tends to her errands around town on foot claiming “it’s
a lot more trouble to get the car out of the garage” than
to just take off out the front door.
Perhaps the only regimen she wholeheartedly embraces is breakfast.
“A healthy breakfast is very, very important. I walk to
church every morning and, by the time I get home, I am really
ready for breakfast. It’s the same every morning: cereal,
toast, fruit and coffee. Then the rest of the day I do whatever
strikes me,” Desch said.
She doesn’t watch much television, except for sports,
particularly basketball. On any given day she may be organizing
old and new photos, writing letters to her nieces and other
family, or walking over to visit friends.
“It’s a good life. I love living in this small town.
It’s my homeplace. People always seem to be wanting something
else, more material things. But I’d sum up my life as:
good family, good friends, good health. I have no complaints,”
she said.
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