Dick Davis has a twinkle in his eye when he says, with relish, of his wife Mildred, “She’s my sidekick. She’s a superwoman.” For decades, Mildred Davis has not only been his constant companion but his gym partner, a commitment and ritual that have been important parts of their marriage and sustained their well-being. The commitment to staying so active remains in the ninth decade of their lives.
Conversations with Richard “Dick” and Mildred reflect what they hold dear – family, faith, memories of travel, especially to Ireland (the place of Mildred’s roots), and their lifelong love of physical activity and sports. Dick cites several places where he and Mildred have lived – Lake Katrine, Hyde Park, and other spots in the Hudson Valley, and Wilmington, North Carolina. No matter where they have lived, the gym and recreation facilities have been their go-to places.
From the time Mildred married Dick in 1961, after she migrated from Ireland in 1960, to now, the two have shared a mantra: “We just keep moving all the time,” Dick says. This refers to the various homes and places they have lived. It also describes their lifelong embrace of exercise and sports.
Moreover, they have not let up. As Dick turns 89 this year and Mildred 87, they keep up the steady dedication to exercise that they possess and have shared for more than six decades.
As each has done their whole lives, they still do vigorous exercise. These days, the couple goes three times a week to the Planet Fitness gym in Kingston. The gym time has been their regular routine, and “it has been that way for years,” according to Dick. “I mix it up,” Dick explains of his exercise approach. His routine can include doing weights, leg lifts, and cardio for about an hour-and-a-half. “I’m the oldest guy in the gym,” he observes with a smile. He also works out at home.
For Mildred Davis, exercise at the gym and sports have been integral for a long time. “I’ve done the gym my whole life,” she says, with pride. At Planet Fitness these days, she does the exercise bicycles and weights.
For both Davises, their gym visits are important and provide much pleasure, something they wouldn’t think of doing without. “I like the whole thing,” he says, “You could spend your day in the gym.”
The enthusiasm comes naturally to the Davises from nurturing this passion all their lives. Dick worked at IBM in Poughkeepsie and Kingston for 36 years, until 1991, in a variety of jobs related to production and manufacturing. The job enabled him to work out at the country club that included a full gym, recreational facilities, swimming pools, bowling alleys, tennis courts, and much more. Dick and Mildred took full advantage. He also was an avid bicyclist; regularly played softball and bowled; and loves to swim.
Mildred has loved and played various sports, particularly many types of racquet sports – “you name it, I have played it,” she says, listing tennis, racquetball, table tennis, handball and indoor badminton (played indoors in Ireland and elsewhere on a high competitive level). Their home contains trophies from her competing and winning. She enjoyed the fast pace of these sports. In addition to her playing racquet sports of all kinds, Mildred regularly biked 125 miles a week. She recalls how she would start in Hyde Park, and bike over to New Paltz and up the Shawangunk Ridge to Minnewaska State Park, and then back to Poughkeepsie. She still logs some 12 to 14 miles on the bicycle during a gym visit.
As Dick and Mildred talk, they exhibit a deft volley of another kind, the verbal back-and-forth of a couple together since the early 1960s. Mildred emigrated in 1960 from Northern Ireland. Her family came from Kilkeel, a fishing village on the Irish seacoast. She was one of 10 children. Dick, of Welsh background, grew up in Watertown, N.Y., one of five children.
“I came to this country, and I didn’t know anything,” Mildred recalls. She worked as a waitress for many years. Dick, who met her in 1961, a year after she came to the U.S., concurs about how unknown the United States was to Mildred, saying, “She was as green as can be.” The two take delight in telling the stories of just how new things were to Mildred. When a customer ordered a shrimp cocktail, Mildred went to the restaurant’s bar to ask for it, thinking it was a drink. When another customer asked for a screwdriver, Mildred said she was puzzled: “What on earth did he want with a screwdriver in a restaurant?” She did not know what a pizza was, nor was she eager to eat a slice of it then.
They married in November of 1961. The couple was keenly aware of the difficulties and violence between Protestants and Catholics in Northern Ireland during the time of Mildred moving here – and of changes to the region over time. “When we were dating, if I had been a Catholic, she couldn’t have dated me,” says Dick of that era. “I was raised a Methodist.” He remembers a time when the two were in Northern Ireland, and someone blew up a bus in the vicinity, saying, “It felt like an earthquake.” Finally, Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland negotiated the Good Friday Agreement, signed in 1998, that brought an end to decades of conflict known as the Troubles.
No matter whether they were home or abroad, the Davises kept up their physical activities. When they talk of their visits to Kilkeel over the years to visit family, for instance, the Davises describe an excellent gym located there. The Kilkeel Leisure Centre has a heated swimming pool, where Dick swam daily. It features a moving floor that allows its swimming depth to be adjusted.
While they appreciate the stories of their past, their roots, and their experiences, the Davises are very anchored in the present and appreciate each day. “Life is so good. We have a wonderful family,” Mildred says with a smile. “They enjoy being together with their son and daughter, and their spouses, and grandchildren. Their rituals are simple after the gym. They go to Starbucks where Dick reads the New York Post and Mildred does sudoku. “I read the newspaper every day,” he says. “You’re never too old to learn.”
Their commitment to both physical and mental activity remains very strong and intentional. “Some people figure that at a certain age, they’re going to sit,” Mildred says, adding later, “Age is a state of mind. You can be old if you want to be.”
Each sees nothing grand in their gym routines and commitment to active lives. However it is central to who they are and what they share. As Dick says, “You just keep moving forward.”
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