WHEN it comes to living a healthy and fruitful life 87-year-old Mount Claremont man Bob Ziegler is a fine example.
The US born emeritus professor of science, who has travelled the world, has been taking part in the Council on the Ageing’s Living Longer Living Stronger program since 2004 and says he enjoys the benefits it brings.
“I joined Living Longer Living Stronger as part of the program at ECU, Prof Ziegler said.
“Personally, I have doubled my upper body strength and tripled my lower body strength.
“I am the same weight as I was aged 13.
“I would recommend the program to everybody.
“As we get older we tend to lose muscle mass which has a negative effect on the whole body.
“We tend to lose balance and not be as strong and cannot lift things as easily and become somewhat restricted in movement.
“Exercising helps to get blood back to the heart. Living Longer Living Stronger gives us a quality of life.”
Prof Ziegler, who has been a volunteer and COTA board member, was born in Tennessee and has been involved in education his whole adult life.
“When I was two-years-old my parents moved to India just north of Bombay (Mumbai) and my first five years of school were in Mussoori, 200 miles north of Delhi in the Himalaya Mountains,” he said.
“My folks returned to the US in 1939 where I attended high school and university and became a teacher for five years.
“I was given a grant by the National Science Foundation at the University of Wisconsin for a masters degree in science education and later to earn PhDs in embryology and learning theory.”
In 1973 Prof Ziegler was sent to Bangkok by UNESCO to write new science programs for high schools and to prepare materials for teacher education.
In 1989 he was sent to China to direct a program for US university students.
The Tiananmen Square event intervened and he and his WA born wife Patricia were evacuated to Perth where they settled.
An Australian Aid program sent Prof Ziegler to Pakistan in 1991 to develop a new high school science and teacher education programs.
Today, Prof Ziegler and Patricia enjoy retirement and travel.
He plays golf at Wembley once a week, walking 18 holes.
“We travel quite a lot and have a lovely family who live around the world,” he said.
“We watch what we eat, but I still enjoy ice-cream almost every day.”
For readers who want to know about the Living Longer Living Stronger program, contact COTA WA on 9472 0104.
