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Page 4 Senior Times - May 2026Discover Milestone. We%u2019re here to help.%u2022 Home Delivered Meals%u2022 Home Accessibility Modifications%u2022 Ramps%u2022 Tub-to-Shower Conversions%u2022 Home Safety Assessments%u2022 Home Repairs%u2022 MI Choice Waiver%u2022 Companionship Services%u2022 Options CounselingMilestone offers a wide range of services to help seniorsstay safe and healthy living at home. Contact us today to get started!269-382-0515MilestoneSeniorServices.orgVisit us at the Calhoun County Senior Expo%u2014 Thursday, May 21Do you want to stay active as you %u201cmature?%u201d Make Shasily Harper your new best friend or at least the person you%u2019d like to emulate. %u201cWhen I hear music, I want to move,%u201d she told me. Shasily was born and educated to be a nurse in Zimbabwe. %u201cI wanted to see the world,%u201d Shasily told me. %u201cI traveled to Scotland to begin working as a nurse and midwife.%u201d After Scotland she moved to Canada and became a Canadian citizen. %u201cWe learned a lot about Canada in school in Zimbabwe,%u201d she said. %u201cAnd we learned English as well.%u201dAlong with her dreams of traveling, Shasily felt she needed to financially help her family back in Zimbabwe so nursing and midwifery helped with that. %u201cI stayed in Calgary, Alberta longer than I expected,%u201d Shasily explained. %u201cI wanted to help my family and I could with my job, so I stayed.%u201d She had friends with whom she%u2019d attended school who were living in Battle Creek and traveled to see them. It was there her life changed. She met John Harper, a young man from Detroit who worked for Kellogg%u2019s. If you listen to John it took just one meeting for him to decide they should become a couple, well that and if they became a couple he could stop the long distance phone calls from Battle Creek to Calgary. %u201cIn those days long distance was expensive,%u201d John told me with a smile. %u201cSix weeks after Shasily%u2019s visit to Battle Creek, I went to visit her in Calgary, and while there, I proposed to her. Shasily being in my life is better luck than I deserve. MUCH better. But as is well known, you don%u2019t have to be deserving to win the lottery. You just have to own a winning ticket.%u201dShasily said, %u201cYes%u201d and moved to Battle Creek and began working at Leila Hospital. She also started traveling to see the world as she dreamed. %u201cJohn and I have been to Egypt, Russia, most of Europe, several times to England and Ireland, India, China, and Japan, multiple trips to Australia and New Zealand, and back to Zimbabwe to visit family. %u201cI don%u2019t go back as often as we did while my Mother was alive,%u201d Shasily told me. %u201cBut we are going in just a couple of months for our niece%u2019s wedding.%u201dIn 2011 Shasily and John were traveling in Ontario when she asked him if they were anywhere near Hamilton. %u201cI%u2019d heard about the Geritol Follies that was based in Hamilton,%u201d she told me. %u201cI asked John to take me there for an audition,%u201d she explained. %u201cI had seen them when they performed in Battle Creek and said to myself, If people over 60 can lift their leg, I can try.%u201d She auditioned and was accepted. %u201cI didn%u2019t know how to dance,%u201d she said. %u201cBut I could sing.%u201d I%u2019ve been singing my whole life.%u201d Shasily took this as an excuse to learn to dance. She knew Shari Rarick had a dance studio so she began tap dance lessons with Shari in 2014. In addition to tap, Shasily decided she wanted to learn line dancing as well. %u201cThere was a line dancing class at the Kool Center that fit into my schedule,%u201d she told me. %u201cI love line dancing. I love dancing of all kinds. When I hear music my body just wants to move!%u201dIf Shasily looks familiar and you attend the local YMCA to work out, you%u2019ve probably seen her there. %u201cI sometimes visit the Y three times a day. Early morning for Yoga, mid-day on the machines, and cardio drumming in the evening. I can walk there from home in about 15 minutes,%u201d she says with a smile. Oh, and by the way, she and John took ballroom dancing classes in the 1990%u2019s. Staying active is just part of Shasily%u2019s daily life and if you see someone lifting their leg to dance, look again%u2026 it%u2019s probably Shasily enjoying the music!SHASILY HARPER %u2013 WHEN I HEAR MUSIC MY BODY JUST WANTS TO MOVE!By: Kathy Banfield Shaw