MACOMB – Ninety one-year-old Janie Torma of Macomb is proof positive if you move it, you don't lose it.
The Minnesota native resides at Wesley Village Retirement Center, and she has made it her mission since moving to Macomb from DeKalb with her late husband, Jim, close to 10 years ago to get others up and moving … no excuses ('just do it,' she added). Torma teaches two water classes twice-a-week at the YMCA of McDonough County year-round, and also leads a chair exercise class at Wesley. In her 'spare' time, you can find her leading the Wesley Kitchen Band, taking part in numerous social activities at the center, attending the Episcopalian Church in Macomb and getting together with her daughter (Sue Nolan) and her family in Macomb.
At the Y, Torma, who said she's always loved to swim, teaches individuals with disabilities during a zero-impact water class in the shallow end, on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. She follows that class with a deep-water exercise class, and also leads the chair exercise class once a week for her friends and neighbors at Wesley. These classes follow nearly a lifetime of activity for the YMCA-accredited aquatics instructor, who credits remaining active with being able to remain upright and mobile in her ninth decade.
'I've been in the water nearly all of my life. I was a lifeguard when I was younger and maintained that certification until just recently. I like the water, I like to exercise and I like to meet new people. When you're obligated and have to show up for something there is no excuse to skip it,' she pointed out. 'I not only get my exercise by leading these classes, I get to have fun and have some company while I'm doing something for myself as well.'
When Torma and her husband moved to Macomb, she walked into then-Aquatics Director Cindy Cavett's office and asked, 'Do you have any water classes that are zero impact?' When she heard the answer was 'no,' Torma told Cavett she was interested in leading these classes, and with that, at few of the YMCA classes she taught at the DeKalb Y were born in Macomb. To understand Torma's commitment to others – and being a person who doesn't sit on the sideline and rather makes things happen – one has to go back several years to her life in Minnesota.
Torma, who has a degree in biology, was a biology teacher after graduating from college; however, in those days, at least in Minnesota, when a teacher became pregnant, she was required to resign. When she became pregnant with her first child, that was it for her teaching career. However, that was the beginning of a whole new career of sorts.
'I stopped teaching to have a family, but then my lifetime of volunteer work began,' Torma said with a smile. 'That's what moms did.'
Her husband worked for Pillsbury Mills, and when he was traveling for work, Torma held down the house and did some volunteer work outside of the home. As part of his job, the family transferred from Minnesota to Arlington Heights and eventually back to Minnesota, all while Torma was taking care of their family and being involved in her communities outside of the home. Then he got a job with DeKalb Ag, and with that, the family of five, moved to DeKalb, Illinois. It was there that Torma joined the DeKalb Junior Women's Club and was off and running in her new hometown.
'We did all sorts of activities and programs for the school district, and we had these wonderful nature preserves in the county. Someone mentioned that there weren't accessible trails for persons with disabilities. When that clicked for me, I brought that up to the club,' she explained. 'So our club created the first-ever accessible trail at one of the forest preserves. We asked people to contribute 50 cents per foot for the asphalt trail, and we raised all the money to put that in and we had signage in Braille installed as well.
'This really started the more full-time volunteerism for me and my family hasn't forgiven me since,' Torma laughed. 'We were a really active, busy club that did a lot for the DeKalb region. The trail project for persons with disabilities also led me to begin teaching swimming classes at the Y for people who had disabilities.'
She became certified by the YMCA and endorsed by the Arthritis, Multiple Sclerosis and Fibromyalgia foundations, to teach the water classes, which she led daily at the DeKalb Y. If that wasn't enough, Torma volunteered at her children's schools, and also led Scout groups, a tradition that her children continued as they became adults, she added. It was also during her time in DeKalb that she became aware of the fact that there were no shelters or resources for domestic violence survivors. Once again, Torma brought the idea up to the women's club. With that, in 1982, the club established a domestic violence shelter. And guess who was tapped to run it? You guessed it … and she did for nearly 20 years before retiring.
'My parents were active, involved people and really instilled that in us, and we tried to do the same with our children,' Torma explained. 'I enjoy helping people and doing something for others. I'm not a check-writer, I want to do the work and work with people.'
When the interview was wrapping up and Torma was asked when she thought she might hang up her swim cap (and her wooden spoon to lead the kitchen band, she quickly answered that the time to slow down is not upon her just yet.
'When the time comes, I'll know,' Torma chuckled. 'Right now, they all still have to put up with me.'
