On Monday morning, Honey Canney marked her birthday by teaching a water aerobics class at Bend Golf & Country Club.

Two days later, on Wednesday, she was back at it, leading a class of seven through the movements, and Friday, shell be doing the same.

Though not as fearless as the mountain bike riders who bomb down Phils Trail on a carbon fiber steed or as gritty as the multisport athletes who crack the two-hour barrier during each springs Pole Pedal Paddle, Canney and her athletic prowess are notable in a city full of notable athletes.

Thats because Canney is 101.

Honey Canney , 101, leads a water aerobics class that she teaches at the Bend Golf & Country Club on Wednesday. (Andy Tullis/Bulletin photo)

Honey Canney , 101, smiles after teaching a water aerobics class at the Bend Golf & Country Club on Wednesday. (Andy Tullis/Bulletin photo)

Honey Canney , 101, second from right, shares a laugh with a group of women that take part in the water aerobics class she teaches at the Bend Golf & Country Club in Bend on Feb. 1, 2017. (Andy Tullis/Bulletin photo)

Three times a week, Canney catches a ride to the club from her home at Whispering Winds retirement community to the private club in southeast Bend, where shes led classes for almost 40 years.

As a teenager, Canney was swimming at a public pool in Seattle when a boy leaped off the high dive, landing on top of her. Years of back problems followed. They were so severe that by 21, doctors advised her she should be prepared to spend much of her life in a wheelchair.

Some decades later while living in Southern California, Canney had managed to avoid the wheelchair, but suffered from constant pain. Her husband would carry her from their car to her chiropractors office. I cant live like this anymore, she recalled thinking to herself, shortly before she followed up on a friends suggestion that she look in to water aerobics.

Pain-free for the first time in years, she was a near-instant convert.

In the 1970s, Canney and her husband moved to Bend to retire, and she went looking for a water aerobics class in her new hometown. Finding nothing, she started doing her exercises on her own in the then-newly built pool at Bend Golf & Country Club. Having never seen such a thing, her friends around the club thought Id lost my ever-loving mind, Canney said.

She persisted, and in time, others joined her in the pool. Soon her personal exercise regimen became a regular class at the club.

I had no intention of teaching any class at all. I was just refreshing my own memory so Id do the right program, the right exercises with the right muscles, she said.

Canney said she feels better today physically than she did when she was 21. Her eyesight has failed in recent years she complains she cant see well enough to butter a slice of toast but if not for her vision, Canney said shed have no difficulties living on her own.

Regular students at Canneys class said its both inspirational and a little intimidating to try to keep up with a woman old enough to be their mother.

Linda Ripsch, at 64 the youngest student present Wednesday, said Canneys positivity is contagious.

We always have a really great time. She keeps us going and has a big happy smile all the time, Ripsch said.

Vergie Ries, 71, said shes lost 40 pounds in a year and a half of taking Canneys class. She said knowing Canney will be there ready to start at 9 a.m. is motivating on days when getting up and making the trip to the pool seems daunting.

With Honey as an inspiration, its easy to get up in the morning and come out here, Ries said.

Although exercise has kept her fit and alert, in her view, longevity is really more about meaningful human connections, Canney said.

To love and be loved, thats my credo, she said. If you dont have people around you, you may as well leave this earth, because its just no good.

Reporter: 541-383-0387, shammers@bendbulletin.com

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At 101, water aerobics teacher inspires students - Bend Bulletin