Moody Family YMCA Faithful Find Community Connections
Longevity has many meanings at the Moody Family YMCA.
Plucky long-timer Brenda Rabe, now the membership experience director, introduced me to a choice few whose multifaceted associations with the Park Cities Y have lasted decades.
Roger and Susan Baier are great YMCA success stories.
Roger’s father grew up going to the Y in St. Joseph, Missouri. When the family relocated to Beaumont, young Roger joined in Y activities, including swimming, archery, and hunting for bullets Beaumont Police officers had fired into a lake bank.
Junior high summers were spent at the Arrowhead resident camp in Hunt.
“In high school, I went to Austin in the Youth in Government program as a representative,” he recalled. “In my junior year a group of us went to the World Youth Conference in the Netherlands.”
He met Susan while attending SMU and the Park Cities Y.
“Our friends were all athletic,” added Susan, who has been taking swim classes for 12 years. “When we had kids, they participated in the Y, and two of our grandchildren have gone through the Y program.”
The couple still attend the Lunch & Learn program for seniors.
“For a while they let us use the bus,” Roger, now 79, said, chuckling. “So, we went to the Amon Carter Museum, to the State Fair, and other stuff.
“Our oldest daughter has been here for a long time and is on the board now,” he continued. “Brenda Rabe really sets a friendly tone. She knows everybody by name. My retirement job was working the front desk here. It’s something that’s been part of our family.”
Brenda Heckmann started in 1975.
“There were no women’s classes back then,” the youthful 82-year-old said, smiling. “So, I started one — dancercise.”
She has taught many classes including stretching, post- and pre-natal, belly dancing, land aerobics, water aerobics, and combination yoga/pilates.
“I had a heavy hit with cancer and with an automobile accident that I wasn’t supposed to live through,” Heckmann said. “I was in constant pain.”
She found help at the Y. “I grew up on a lake in Georgia, so I thought, ‘Get back in the water.’ So, in 1991, I did, and it saved me. The only thing I teach now is one-on-one water personal training.”
But Heckmann wants others to know how much more the Y offers.
“There are so many things that people don’t realize, like the scholarship money for people who can’t afford it, the facilities where seniors go and teach classes, and the disabilities program,” she said. “I think that the Park Cities people kind of take it for granted. It’s not a country club, and it’s not a sports club, but it has a lot of the same things.
“The legacy here is we want to help the community. It’s a family here,” she said. “Caring, respect, honesty, responsibility — that’s what the Y is about. And that’s one of the reasons I’m still here.”
