Lee Calvert Celebrates Her 100th Birthday with Pushups

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Lee Calvert had two birthday parties to celebrate her 100th.

By ALISON BURMEISTER

There are an estimated 101,000 Americans who are 100 or older in a country of 245 million people (78 percent are women). Joining that elite group is Lee Calvert, who celebrated her 100^th birthday on August 15.

Lee’s family, neighbors, and friends from all over the United States gathered two weekends in a row (August 18 and 25) at Tahitian Terrace where Calvert has been a resident for the past 60 years to honor her with speeches and stories.

Lee Calvert with her great-granddaughters at the family birthday party at Tahitian Terrace August 18.

Appropriately the entire clubhouse was decorated in royal blue, Lee’s favorite color, where she held court like a queen.

“My mother loves to dance and have fun,” said daughter Nancy. Some, reading this may remember dancing alongside Lee in the popular Zumba class, taught by Carlos at the YMCA on Via De La Paz.

If you have had the joy of spending time with Lee Calvert, you’d agree her energy is infectious.

The story of Lee’s life is worthy of the very television scripts she used to work on.

She grew up poor during the depression in Santa Monica. Lee was  a divorced mom with two kids before she  established a Hollywood business.

A legend in Pacific Palisades,  Lee was the recipient of the “Arnie Wishnick” award for volunteerism. She is a member of Palisades Americanism Parade Association (PAPA) and the Optimist Club.

Lee dancing with her son-in-law John.

She is also an inductee into the badminton Hall of Fame.

“My mother was always busy. She was always coming up with challenging but fun activities that made us laugh,” Nancy said.

Lee moved to Pacific Palisades in 1961 just so her daughter could attend Palisades High School. Her son Jeff, also attended PaliHi.

Once her children were out of high school, Lee started her own business as a Hollywood continuity script transcriber. She began her work with The Lucy Show for Desilu Productions in 1964. Calvert enjoyed her work for Lucille Ball who owned the production company Desilu with her then husband Desi Arnaz.

Despite loving her job, “I hated how everyone smoked!” said Lee, which is the reason she relocated her offices from Hollywood to her new home in Tahitian Terrace, where she moved after her kids left for college.

“I traded smoke in the office to work from home with an ocean view.” Lee said. Literally a trailblazer, she was one of the first residents to live in Tahitian Terrace before Temescal Canyon Road existed.

In a day and age when very few women ran their own businesses and technology was constantly changing, Lee attended college to learn computers. She finally retired at age 80 after a long successful career.

When asked if she ever remembered her mother being stressed, Nancy replied, “My mother had more than her share of stress. Her outlet was sports. They kept her spirits high.”

“I loved to play, but I was terrible in sports early on.” Lee said. “When I went to the gym to play on teams, I was the last one picked.”

It wasn’t until she discovered badminton that Lee found her sport.

She said that just before the end of World War II, at the end of the Santa Monica Pier there were badminton courts. But she didn’t play competitively, until later in life.

“I started playing badminton locally at Santa Monica College when I was 40,” she said. Lee’s second husband Larry Calvert also played badminton.

Lee was inducted in the Badminton Hall of Fame after winning three gold medals at the Huntsman World Senior Games. As she grew older Lee put down her badminton racket and took up table tennis which she continues to play today.

Cynthia Cuza, one of Lee’s table tennis partners who played many tournaments nationwide
and friend Janet Lever. Lee retired from table tennis when she was 92.

This past weekend when friends and neighbors gathered for the second party, there was a line of guests, many dressed in Lee’s favorite color blue, waiting to honor her. Several mentioned Lee’s dedication to physical fitness and her commitment to doing 15 push-ups every night before bed.

“It’s important to do push-ups and sit-ups because we have to keep the core strong,” Lee said and explains she discovered the importance of this when she almost fell on the stairs of CVS, the local drugstore in the Palisades.

“If I hadn’t landed on my hands and caught myself from falling, it would have been much worse,” she said.

The night of her party, Lee was reminded of the pledge she made to do 15 push-ups on her 100th birthday. Her son Jeff, who knows his mom’s boundless determination and admitted competitiveness, suggested she do wall push-ups instead –to not mess up the pretty blue skirt suit she wore.

Lee of course stood up, found an open wall and did more than 15 pushups as all her friends and neighbors cheered her on.

Lee Calvert performing more than  15 wall-pushups for her 100th birthday party.

“She is feeling so high from all of the celebrating,” Nancy said. “The day after her last party she was up at 6 am to see my brother Jeff off…we should all have this kind of pep!”

Which begs the question, at 100 years old, why does Lee Calvert have so much pep? And how can I get some?

Lee will tell you her secret is “to keep moving”. Like many other centenarians studies have shown, physical activity is very important for living a long life.

Also important, according to the study of Blue Zones, regions in the world where people are claimed to have exceptionally long lives beyond the age of 80; a lifestyle combining physical activity, living with a sense of purpose, low stress, a local whole-foods diet and a strong sense of family and community will extend one’s life.

And while ironically, it’s not mentioned in any of these Blue Zone studies, I’m going to add in there, to wear the color, blue. It seems to have worked for Lee Calvert, and that is all the evidence one really needs!

Lee with son Jeff after the party.

Lee Calvert and her family celebrating Lee’s 100th birthday.

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