“It keeps me going,” Hook said. “I love to be out with the ladies, otherwise I’d be home 24/7.”
Hook got her start on the lanes more than six decades ago when her sister-in-law asked her to bowl. The lanes were in the basement of a Catholic church in Indiana — pin boys and all.
Hook continued to bowl after moving to the Dayton area a few years later. Her five children all tried their hand at the sport over the years but most long ago gave it up. Her son Gary, still an avid bowler, enjoys watching his mom compete in the league.
“You don’t see people her age out here very often,” he said.
Every week she slips on her bowling shoes, Hook unwittingly motivates her fellow competitors, especially if she happens to be beating them.
“I hope I can get to where she is,” longtime Tea Timer Judy Peckolt said. “She’s really something.”
While winning is fun, the league is about much more than averages and honor scores.
“It’s a social club, it’s a day out,” Peckolt said.
Hook knows many younger than she who have planted themselves in a recliner or on the couch, but she doesn’t want to miss out on the fun and friendship. Sure, her pace has slowed a bit and she throws a lighter ball than she used to, but Hook is dedicated.
“I’m not doing as well, average-wise, as I used to, but I’m hanging in there,” she said. “I show up every day.”
Hook also walks her dog every day and enjoys gardening. Until recently, she also mowed her own lawn, but Gary put a stop to that.
Then there are the 12 grandchildren, nine great-grandchildren and three great, great-grandchildren to keep her busy. If only she could get them on the lanes.
“I’m working on it,” she said with a smile.
And for her fellow seniors who use the I’m-too-old excuse, Hook simply says, “You’re never too old.” And she is proof.
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