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Glad She Took The Plunge

CANDACE C. MUNDY/TAMPA TRIBUNE

86-year-old June Reynolds has been swimming since she was 3 years old. Recently Reynolds set 5 Florida state swimming records for her age group, 85-89, during the 2007 Florida Senior Games State Championship. Reynolds does her swim workout at the Danny Del Rio pool, 10208 N. Blvd.

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By HAROLD VALENTINE, The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 16, 2008

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FOREST HILLS - It may not be the fountain of youth, but 86-year-old June Beem Reynolds said the longer and harder she swims, the better she feels.

"Energy begets energy," she said.

During her mid-50s, Reynolds was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. Between medication for her condition and joint pain, Reynolds said she spent too much time on her couch.

That's when she heard about competitive swimming through United States Masters Swimming. After diving in, Reynolds never looked back.

"I thought 'No, I'd rather be hurting than sleeping on the couch,'" she said.

Three decades later, Reynolds is going strong.

At the 2007 Florida Senior Games State Championship in Fort Myers in December, Reynolds set five national records in the 85- to 89-year-old age group. The records were for the 50-yard butterfly, 100-yard butterfly, 100-yard individual medley, 200-yard individual medley and the 100-yard breaststroke.

Reynolds said competitive swimming means consistent practicing. Once a week, come cold or heat, Reynolds practices at Danny Del Rio pool, 10208 N. Boulevard.

"It's as much of a fitness program as it is a competitive program," said Reynolds' coach, Paul Hutinger. "Competition kind of encourages people to keep practicing."

Hutinger has known Reynolds since their Master's Swimming team, the Mavericks, was formed 10 years ago. At 83, Hutinger understands how difficult it can be to stay physically active.

"When you get to 80, everything deteriorates and goes downhill," Hutinger said. "She is still going strong in that 85 to 89 age group."

For Reynolds, swimming has been a return to youth. Her grandfather Richard R. Beem, or "Old Dad Beem," started a dance hall at the Lake Ellen beach in 1925, when Reynolds' family moved to Florida from Michigan. At age 3, Reynolds initiated her relationship with water in an inner tube at the lake.

Reynolds said her grandfather built everything out of logs from the swamp, including his house, the docks and picnic tables.

It turns out Old Dad Beem doubled the dance hall as a speak-easy during Prohibition.

"I never went upstairs," Reynolds said. "I always wondered where they go."

She remembered the night her grandfather was arrested. That night, the dance hall went up in flames during stormy weather. Reynolds never knew how the fire started.

Reynolds said a "Jimmy John," a 5-gallon bottle used for moonshine, was found in the 67-acre lake. She thinks a neighbor provided the liquor for the dance hall.

After the dance hall burned, Old Dad Beem developed his 5-acre beach area, importing sand, which minimized the water's muck, and cleared enough land to create a more picnic-friendly environment.

Reynolds said beachgoers would head down a milelong dirt road, throw a dime inside Old Dad Beem's front door, which was always open, then hit the water.

Reynolds' family moved to the beach when she was 8, giving her more time to play in the water. That is when she taught herself strokes such as freestyle and the flutter kick.

In a short story she wrote for a University of South Florida adult-education course, Reynolds remembered her lessons. "I learned by pushing from one dock post to another," she wrote. "That is how I really learned to swim."

Her story, called "Swimmers," recalls the time she pushed a wooden rowboat into the lake, before her self-taught lessons.

"I knew I was going to fall," she wrote. "I knew the water was over my head, and I knew I couldn't swim ... when my feet touched the sand bottom, I leaned forward to keep my weight over my feet and, sensing that my body still faced the shore, I walked three or four steps before my head was above water."

Reynolds became a lifeguard as a teenager and later joined the Hillsborough High School girls swim team. After marrying at 17, she stopped competitive swimming until the middle-aged rediscovery of her once-favorite pastime.

Reynolds said Old Dad Beem died in 1929, and her mother said she would never sell the beach. However, the beach was sold in 1967 to Jim Yeloushan, who continued the property as a beach.

Reynolds said today subdivisions surrounding the lake barely leave a trace of the beach she remembers.

"Everyone has pools now," she said. "I suppose some use the lake for fishing."

Reynolds, who has lived in her Forest Hills home for more than 20 years, said she has no plans to stop swimming.

"As long as you can breathe, you can swim," she said.

Reporter Harold Valentine can be reached at (813) 865-1526 or hvalentine@tampatrib.com.

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