April 9, 2025
This paid piece is sponsored by GreatLIFE Golf & Fitness.
Get ready to rethink what turning 90 looks like.
That’s what Ida Quatier demonstrates daily — she said as much in March, when she marked the milestone birthday.
“I tell my children, ‘This is the new 90,’” she said. “They like that.”
Quatier entered her 90th year the same way she begins almost every day — with a trip to GreatLIFE at Avera McKennan Fitness Center.
There, she starts with a 2-mile walk around the track, spends some time on the NuStep machine and heads for the pool, where she’s in the water at least four times every week, no matter what the weather.
While it can be hard to find the motivation early in the morning and through the winter, “when I get there, I’m glad I came,” she said.
Quatier has been a member at the fitness center since it opened 27 years ago, originally as a way to help address back issues she was experiencing.
“That’s really helped me. I’m still walking, and it helped my back tremendously,” she said. “I’d done a lot of sitting and office work, and that was hard on my back.”
Beyond the physical benefits though, Quatier has gained a true sense of community.
“It’s a great place. It’s nice to be there,” she said. “The people are friendly; the staff and the clients, everyone is friendly. It’s nice because I get my exercise and my social life.”
Kathleen Brown remembers celebrating Quatier’s 80th birthday, then her 85th. That’s at least how long she and a group of friends have been part of the same swim group that meets Monday and Thursday mornings.
“We’re all in our 60s and 70s and tease her and say ‘We want to be you when we grow up.’ So we were just thrilled to celebrate with her,” Brown said.
The friends arranged a coffee and doughnut gathering once they were done in the pool to mark the day with Quatier.
“We sang happy birthday in the pool and then sat around and talked for a long time,” Brown said. “We really have a good community, especially around our swim group.”
Quatier originally had a big vision for how she’d mark the momentous day — “I was thinking I was going to jump in the pool,” she said. “I hadn’t jumped in a pool since the 1960s, and I had a slight fear of heights, so when I looked down, I couldn’t do it. I sat down and slid in instead.”
So instead of jumping into the 90s, she slid into it — but it still felt like something to celebrate.
“I feel great, and my health is good, thank God,” she said.
The ladies’ celebration is just one example of the friendships formed at all GreatLIFE fitness centers.
“You see the same faces every day, and it’s hard not to feel at home because of that,” said Maggie Fick, a fitness professional at GreatLIFE at Avera McKennan Fitness Center.
“As GreatLIFE has taken over management, they’re still doing their classes and encouraging others because it does feel like a second home.”
Fitness for older adults not only is attainable but also has many benefits, she said.
“You can start at any age. Even if you haven’t been active much of your life, it’s never too late to start turning that around,” she said. “If you’re brand-new, we just start small and do a little bit every day, so it’s not a dramatic change. You’ll notice maybe you were able to tie your shoes more easily or carry groceries better, so those small wins can be huge.”
While Fick has seen many older members in her seven years in the industry, “Ida is amazing,” she added. “She looks really good for 90, and she’s just a great lady.”
Quatier encourages others who might hesitate to join a fitness center to “just try it,” she said. “You’ll like it. There are things I was hesitant to do and did it anyway, and it turned out to be one of my favorite things, so just try it.”
You’ll find getting older also might be a bit more fun than you expect, she added.
“The whole month of my birthday was just fabulous. I didn’t anticipate it to be this much fun, but I’ve heard from so many people who said such nice things that I’m going to have to work on being humble after this. It’s just been so much fun. I should have done it sooner.”
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