by Rachel Stockton

Created on: September 07, 2008   Last Updated: November 01, 2008

A reporter for a south Texas newspaper came to interview my dad, who had earned some recognition as a portrait and western artist. She'd heard of an accident he'd had some 15 years prior, one that left him initially paralyzed from the waist down. Although she knew that he'd regained some of his "feeling', and experienced paralysis only from the knees down, she knew he used crutches to walk.

When she arrived at our front door, I called to my father to let him know she'd arrived. The click, whoosh, sound of his crutches came down the hall, and when he entered the room, she gasped, "My God, I expected to see a somewhat feeble, crippled man, and in walks Jack La Lanne!"

My father certainly didn't look the part of paraplegic; his immense biceps, flat abs and overall weight builder's physique would leave most able bodied men green with envy.

A Love Affair with Fitness

Dad's love of physical fitness started early; my mother thinks it might be because he wasn't as tall as his father, who was 6'4" (Dad is 5'9"), so he decided to "build up" his musculature to compensate. Although that may have had something to do with it, the main catalyst was a Charles Atlas mail order course he sent off for, after seeing a picture of the "world's most perfectly developed man" in one of his magazines.

Dad made himself some makeshift barbells using stones and tree limbs (and as I understand it, Charles Atlas himself made his own "exercise equipment" also), and from that point on, he devoted time to perfecting his fitness routine.

After WWII broke out, Dad enlisted in the Navy. In one of his letters home, he brags to his dad that "I'm up to 174 pounds now, so you'd better hide your new overcoat when I come home!" All during his military service, he continued to body build and increase his stamina.

The Fall

Dad continued his love for physical activity by adding jogging and biking to his weight lifting regimen. Pictures taken of him through the years show the results of his efforts; he was an absolutely gorgeous specimen.

In 1961, though, things changed. Dad fell out of a tree, rupturing two disks in his back. The resulting paralysis led the doctors to believe he'd never walk again.

But Dad, used to the discipline of working out, incorporated weight lifting and bike riding into his recovery. Soon, he begin to stand, although his balance remained tenous. Once, while going on one of his biking treks, a truck driver, seeing his physical condition from his cab, pulled along side Dad and said, "Say, are you a boxer in training?" That incident certainly proved the adage that our weaknesses can be turned into our strengths.

Two years after the fall, Dad walked for two miles without touching his crutches to the ground. Victory, to be sure.

Aerobics proved to be problematic for awhile, as he could never walk fast enough to elevate his heart rate. But, where there's a will, there's a way. He "created" an exercise of rapid knee bends, which he did while holding the back of a chair, for thirty minutes ever day. He is living proof that there is no excuse for not improving our physical condition.

Dad is 82 years old, and yes, he STILL lifts weights, three times a week. At our last family gathering, his sister photographed him in his "Charles Atlas" pose; his current physique puts men half his age to shame.

Jack La Lanne may be an icon, but my father truly epitomizes that when we are weak, we can truly be strong.

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