Calendar puts focus on people in their 60s
At 67, Jerry Yarov finds himself a calendar model. He was one of 13 people who gathered at the Columbus Museum of Art on Thursday for a group photo shoot for a health-oriented calendar featuring people in their 60s.
Several expressed surprise at the honor, but a glance at their biographies shows why a panel of judges chose them.
Yarov, for example, became active in the National Parkinson Foundation after his Parkinson's disease was diagnosed 12 years ago. He is now board president of the Columbus chapter and has served as chairman of Moving Day, a yearly event that stresses the importance of exercise for Parkinson’s patients. (The 2017 event will take place next Sunday at Mapfre Stadium.)
Moving Day last year featured Jadyn’s Kids Place, a play area in memory of Jadyn Larky, Yarov’s 11-year-old granddaughter, a Bexley resident who was killed when a tree fell on her cabin at a summer camp in Bennington, Indiana.
Yarov strives to bounce back from loss, his calendar biography says. “His philosophy of life is to be an optimist.”
The calendar, called Columbus 60 Strong, is sponsored by Central Ohio Primary Care, a network of 350 physicians in 62 offices around Columbus. It promotes the network’s Senior Care Advantage, which CEO Bill Wulf described as a set of services aimed at enhanced care for senior citizens.
The models were photographed individually at various Columbus landmarks for the $15 calendar, which will be available in October via www. COPCSeniorCare Advantage.com or at the COPC Medicare Shop and Compare event on Oct. 24 at Villa Milano.
The other models are Columbus Blue Jackets TV analyst Bill Davidge of Grove City; Kathleen Dougherty of Dublin; Maude Hill of Reynoldsburg; Becky Murray and Carol Owen, both of Westerville; Faye and Steve Ruffing of Marysville; and John Wesley Swain III, Kenneth Neuhart, Rosemary Walton, Ruth Ann Harris and Deborah Vaughn, all of Columbus.
Vaughn, who works with crime victims for the Ohio attorney general's office, was nominated by her doctor’s office after she lost 73 pounds to lessen her chance of developing cancer and improve her health.
Her efforts paid off, said Vaughn, 61.
“My knees don’t hurt anymore."
Davidge, who underwent a bone-marrow transplant to treat multiple myeloma (a blood cancer) diagnosed in 2014, continues to broadcast. He has also raised more than $50,000 for multiple myeloma research. His calendar biography notes his participation in dozens of charity golf tournaments and ends with this:
“He is constantly reminding others to treat people the way they want to be treated because life is too short."