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Defying Age: 98-Year-Old Huntsville Woman Inspires with Daily Workout Routine

December 16, 2024 | Reading Time: 3 minutes
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Regina Dembo sits beside pool in swimming cap and goggles

Regina Dembo is a retired elementary school teacher, Holocaust survivor, and the oldest member at Huntsville Hospital’s Wellness Centers.

At 98 years old, Regina Dembo maintains an impressive fitness routine. The long-time Huntsville Hospital Wellness Center member begins weekday mornings with a 30-minute workout centered on mobility, strength training, and aerobics—all before her morning coffee. She has faithfully maintained this routine for more than a decade.

“I push myself, mostly,” says Dembo. “This morning, I did not want to get up. But, it’s early in the morning, and then I’ve finished my exercise—it’s not bad. I’ve got to exercise, especially at my age.”

Dembo starts her workout in the main exercise room, warming up with resistance band stretches and light hand weights. This prepares her for her favorite activity of the morning—swimming. She steadily completes six laps across the pool, donning a bright red swimsuit, swim cap and goggles.

Admired by staff and members alike, Dembo is an inspiration. Her vibrant personality, as bright as her one-piece swimsuit, shines through as she greets everyone warmly and speaks fondly of her Huntsville community.

“People are very nice here. I find them very helpful if you need something. I taught here—fourth grade—for years. And [afterward] I’d find people saying hello to me. Just around town, you know, when you go to the grocery store,” says Dembo.

Dembo is retired from teaching fourth grade at Weatherly Elementary School for 23 years. Even then, Dembo prioritized daily exercise. Before school each morning, she would consistently wake up early for a walk around the block, setting the stage for her lifelong commitment to fitness.

When asked what advice she would give to young people today, Dembo says, “Exercise and be happy. Just be happy.”

Regina Dembo stretches with resistance bands

Despite a difficult past, Dembo has made the courageous choice to embrace happiness in her own life. Dembo is one of the nearly 40,000 Holocaust survivors still living in the United States.

Dembo’s childhood in Vienna, Austria, was disrupted by the onset of WWII. Her father was sent back to Poland when the Holocaust began and never returned home. As Austrian citizens, Dembo and her sisters fled to the United States on visas secured by their mother, who, as a Polish citizen, was unable to join them.

At the age of 12, Dembo and her two sisters, ages 10 and 8, boarded a train unaccompanied. As they waved goodbye to their mother and younger brother, who was too young to travel, they did not know that they would never see them again. Dembo would find out later on in life that their mother and 4-year-old brother died in a Nazi concentration camp.

The girls found refuge in New York, where they would grow up in orphanages and attend school. After some years there, Dembo met her husband, an engineer. His career carried them to a number of locations around the country. Eventually, the family landed in Huntsville, Alabama, and Dembo has lived here ever since.

“She’s really an inspiration to a lot of people—especially me,” says Dembo’s driver for the past three years, EJ. “A lot of days I don’t want to get up, but I think, ‘if she can do it, I can do it.’”

Dembo’s consistent morning workouts are a glimpse into the resilience that has carried her and her family through life’s joys and unexpected turns.

The Huntsville Hospital Wellness Centers exist to support individuals from all walks of life in their wellness journeys. Backed by the region’s most trusted hospital, the centers provide a robust array of benefits to members, including heated pools, group exercise classes, personal training packages, and expert staff on-site. Click here to learn more about a Wellness Center membership today, and join Dembo in a long-lasting fitness journey of your own.

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