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A HEALTHY OUTLOOK
Video
Doing yoga at 100? For Howland woman, it’s no stretch
By JoAnn Jones
Ann Weltman of Howland breathes deeply, all the way to her stomach, as she tries to get more oxygen throughout her body. She tilts her head slightly and then shrugs her shoulders to demonstrate how she practices yoga every morning to get her blood circulating.
Not unusual ... unless you celebrated your 100th birthday in March.
Weltman, a resident of Shepherd of the Valley, said she believes yoga is a way of life.
“It’s a way of living, a way of thinking,” she said. “The mind thinks what you want the body to do.”
Weltman, who was born March 7, 1912, in Pittsburgh and was one of six children, began teaching yoga 50 years ago when she lived in Orlando, Fla.
“Yoga is mind, body and spirit,” she said. “They all work together. It makes you feel wonderful and makes your mind more clear.”
“My daughter was a teenager when I started doing yoga,” she added. “I have the whole family doing it now. It’s very healthy.”
Weltman’s daughter, Judy Kay of Howland, now leads a yoga group herself, while Weltman leads women at Shepherd of the Valley to help them feel better.
But it hasn’t been only yoga that has helped her stay healthy enough to reach her 100th birthday.
“I eat proper food and eat very little meat,” Weltman said. “I’ve always eaten whole-grain bread, and I made fresh carrot juice for 35 years.”
“I drink eight glasses of water a day,” she added, “and I love fruits and vegetables. I try to go to bed by 10 and get eight hours of sleep a night.”
Weltman stressed that staying active has been crucial to her being in good health.
“My daughter Judy calls me every day and reminds me to get out and walk,” she said. “Walk, walk — that’s very important.”
In addition to walking daily, she goes to exercise class two or three times a week and spends as much time outside as possible. She also plays bingo and loves to read, especially health books.
“My favorite book is ‘Forever Young’ by Nicholas Perricone, a doctor,” she said. “I’ve read it many times.”
Weltman said she was quite young when she moved from Pittsburgh to Lakewood Avenue in Youngstown and attended school, before graduating from the former South High School. After she married Leo Blaiwes, they moved to Cleveland Heights, where they owned the Great Lakes Cheese Co. They raised their four children — Florence, Arthur, Sandra and Judy — there.
“Leo died when he was 50,” Weltman said, “and we sold the cheese company because my son, who was helping, said he wanted to go back to college.”
That son, Arthur Blaiwes, is now a retired Navy psychologist who lives in Orlando, she said. Her daughter Sandra resides in Palm Beach.
Weltman said she remarried — to Frank Weltman, who also has passed away — and later began teaching yoga while she was living in Orlando near her son.
“I came here for a visit with my daughter Florence in Cleveland and Judy in Howland and stayed,” she said with a laugh. “I sent my son the key to my apartment and said, ‘Take over.’ I’ve been here eight years.”
Weltman said she enjoys being at Shepherd of the Valley.
“I like people,” she said, “and I try to be good to my friends. I have a habit of saying, ‘Nevermind, I’ll do it.’”
Weltman, who also has twin sisters who are 95 and a twin brother and sister who are 90, was honored in March at a birthday party in the dining room at Shepherd of the Valley. Her family presented her with a scrapbook filled with family photos and messages to her as thanks for all she’d done for them, she said.
On her apartment wall hangs a proclamation from the office of the mayor of Warren, congratulating her on her 100th birthday.
She said a big family birthday party is scheduled for June when more family members can attend.
And her philosophy for living a long, successful life?
“I don’t hold grudges and I help in any way I can,” Weltman said. “I accept whatever comes along — the good and the bad. And that’s what life is all about.”