Sunday, September 25, 2005
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

IN DEPTH: `Grandma Grace' rides longevity wave

Grace Hiddleson is 97 years old, blind and she can barely breathe. But none of that has slowed down the longtime registered nurse and avid swimmer.

Hiddleson, a nurse and Red Cross swimming instructor since 1926, continues to help others and also still competes in the pool, where she has set several world records in her age group (95 to 99). She is expected to participate in this year's Nevada Senior Games, slated to start today.

"Honey, I've been swimming since I've been born. It's the love of my life," she said. "All my doctors told me I wouldn't be alive if I weren't a swimmer."

Hiddleson, who grew up in California, doesn't compete in freestyle or breaststroke events anymore, since congestive heart failure hurts her ability to breathe, but she still swims the backstroke.

"I call it S.O.B. -- shortness of breath," she said. "I can only do the backstroke because I can't breathe anymore. On my back, I can still breathe."

As for the macular degeneration that left her blind 14 years ago, she takes it in stride.

"It doesn't bother me in swimming at all. You feel (your way)," she said. "I'm so used to doing it, you don't let it bother you."

Hiddleson is an inspiration to her five children and 24 grandchildren, along with others "we adopted along the way." She still teaches physically challenged swimmers in an adaptive aquatics program at a pool bearing her name in Woodland, Calif. -- the Grace Hiddleson Recreation Center.

Longtime Las Vegas businessman Mike Webster entered Hiddleson's life in 1980, when he rescued her from the ocean in San Diego after she was pulled into a riptide. Earlier this year, he helped her raise $15,000 to save the pool now named for her.

"She's just a wonderful woman. She volunteers all her time to everybody and is always helping people," he said. "We complain about this and that, that our day hasn't gone good. This lady can hardly breathe, but I've never heard her complain about anything."

Hiddleson still walks and lifts weights regularly and also stays active as a volunteer nurse at the convalescent home where she lives.

"I love taking care of older people and taking care of children, from the cradle to the grave," she said. "I do whatever I can."

Hiddleson's granddaughter, Las Vegas resident Paula James, said "Grandma Grace" has inspired her in many ways.

"She's taught me to keep a light heart and not be judgmental, and to laugh a lot," James said. "She's sharp as a tack and she's not done. She still has something to give, teach and share.

"She's having fun. She has a good attitude and a positive outlook. She said life's going to throw you curves, so you better be ready to catch them and throw them back."

Hiddleson's daughter, Carol Wright, is equally amazed by her mother.

"She's something else. She just keeps going," Wright said. "She says she's not about to slow down like those old people."

Hiddleson, who already is looking forward to setting records in the 100 to 104 age group, said one key to staying young is not living in the past.

"You've got to live today, not yesterday," she said. "You can't give up. If I ever give up, that will be it."