By Davi Stuhlsatz

Derby’s award-winning commitment to healthy living may be epitomized by a spry white-haired woman who can be spotted walking on south Woodlawn daily.

“In the summer, I get out as soon I can see and be seen,” said Ruth Pappan,75. 

In colder weather she walks later in the day.

“I’ve always walked, but I used to just walk the block around my house,”said the Derby great-grandmother. “I was getting fatter and fatter.”

 Now Pappan walks three miles every day.

“When I first started walking more, I bent over to swat a mosquito and lost my balance and fell,” she said. “I take calcium, so I didn’t break any bones, but I fell on gravel, so I had a polka dot bruise.”

Fortunately, Pappan’s walking experiences improved after that inauspicious beginning.

“Since  I started walking longer distances a year and a half ago, I went from 182 pounds down to 135,” she said. “I’ve lost 47 pounds.”

User Comments

• derby resident

  "Keep up the work, Grandma!! And if you are 75 then I'm only 28...let's stick with that story!"

  Posted by Brandi on Feb. 13, 2012