"I will survive; I will survive. As long as I know how to love, I know I'll be alive."
Not really typical church music, but the Gloria Gaynor anthem to powerful women seemed appropriate for the elderly women of the Spencer Exercise Group gathered at Oakdale Baptist Church's fellowship hall on a recent sunny morning.
These women aren't just surviving -- they're thriving, many of them well into their 80s.
The group meets Tuesdays and Thursdays at 10 a.m. and has been led by Adlonia Henderson -- a youngster at 73 -- since January 2003.
The group started back in the mid-1990s as a joint effort between the Rowan County Health Department, what was then the Salisbury YMCA and Oakdale Baptist Church, said Susan Musselman, the health and wellness coordinator at Rufty-Holmes Senior Center.
The YMCA continued the financing until somewhere around 2002, when it approached the senior center about providing an instructor. Center officials secured financing from the town of Spencer and recruited Henderson, a longtime group member, to lead it.
Like some other group members, Henderson has had her share of health issues. She was diagnosed with diabetes about 15 years ago and had a heart attack in 1999. She also has a mild case of Parkinson's -- but hasn't let any of it interfere with her keeping active, which is a priority for her.
"I love to exercise. Movement helps," Henderson said, referring to her Parkinson's. "I don't let it keep me down."
The women are arranged in a circle. Each has a chair, a basketball and a set of light weights.
Henderson leads the group with assurance, and the women are clearly old hands at this. Everybody knows what to do.
After the exercise session, the women huddle up for a prayer, because this group is about more than exercise. It's also about fellowship.
Catherine Feezor, 80, recounts who's in the hospital and who's having a tough time.
After prayer requests are made, the women join hands while Henderson prays.
Her voice quavers just a bit, but the faith and conviction in her voice ring out nonetheless.
At 87, Trulie Harkey is the group's oldest member present, and somewhat of a spark plug. Her role seems to be to keep everybody laughing and upbeat.
"Everybody says it's so quiet when I'm gone," she said.
She points to the mats in the corner. "At one time we had pads, but we can't get up now, so we don't use them anymore."
That explains the chairs.
"Being with this group helps me so much," Harkey said.
Everyone agrees that the group is like an extended family for them.
Rachel Mowry, who has been part of the group since 2001, says she appreciates what she gets out of it.
When she stopped coming she noticed a decline in her energy level and her ability to move.
"When I do this, I'm very flexible," she said.
Many in the group have had periods of nonattendance because they were serving as a caretaker for a sick spouse or because they had health issues themselves.
Feezor, for example, has had a heart attack and a knee replacement which sidelined her for a while.
Sometimes, people come with canes, and they do what they can, Feezor says.
"As long as we keep moving, we're OK," she said.
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