Scotty Doyle teaches a twice a week swimming aerobics class . Photo by Elane Dickenson

A quarter of a century ago, Janet “Scotty” Doyle of Enterprise was already considered an elder statesmen of physical activity in Wallowa County. At age 55 she was teaching aerobics and hula dancing classes, partly through the Wallowa Valley Activities Program that existed then, and taking part in the many mini-marathon races that were then held in the county.

Now a healthy age 80, Doyle is a role model for senior citizens and the philosophy that if “you don’t move it, you’ll lose it,” as she said at a meeting this spring in support of the formation and funding of Wallowa County Parks and Recreation District ballot measure that will be on the Nov. 5 election ballot.

Recreational proponents are hoping the district will be able to help replace the delapidated city swimming pool that was closed in Enterprise for lack of funds two summers ago, support volunteer youth sports program, organize rec programs for adults senior citizens , supplement the schools which have had to cut programs and provide a central organization to promote recreation in Wallowa.

Doyle has been agitating for more physical activity in the county for years. When she taught swimming for adults at the now-closed Enterprise pool many years ago she tried to get the powers that be to put a cover on the pool, which she felt would increase use.

Last year Doyle, a widow for the last 10-plus years, took over instruction of a water aerobics class for adults that just started meeting again twice a week at the Best Western swimming pool, and is a familiar sight around town walking a brisk pace with her Yorkie dog, Tosh, leased to her waist.

“I try to walk five miles a day, when I can. Otherwise I try to get at least three in,” said Scotty. She’s had her share of injuries – a shoulder surgery, a shattered elbow, a twisted knee – but they never stop her for long.Most of her life Doyle has been known by the nickname “Scotty” in honor of her native Scotland, where she grew up. She’s proud of her origins, and even flies a Scottish flag from her Enterprise doublewide’s deck.

Ironically, though she enjoys watching golf on television and is proud of the fact the sport originated in her homeland, golf is an activity she’s never taken up, at least not so far. She’s considering it.

Doyle served in the Armed Forces during WWII in England and worked for the Foreign Service after the war in Berlin, where she met her future husband, an American named Allen William Doyle. He stayed in the military much of their married life , and was stationed all over the world, with Scotty and their three children sometimes left behind, sometimes moving with him to such posts as England and Bangkok. In the United states they lived in many different states, including Florida, Alabama, South Carolina and Hawaii.

His last post was Hawaii, where they lived for four years before retiring to Wallowa County. A former cigarette smoker, Doyle started getting really physically active for the first time in her late 40s while living in South Carolina. “First I walked, then started jogging a little, and started going to the gym and working out,” she recalled.

After the transfer to Hawaii while her children were still in high school, she taught herself to swim, became a life guard and then a water safety instructor and pool manager. She learned to scuba dive, sail a boat and began to run, taking part in a full marathon in her early 50s.

Doyle recalls teaching 4- and 5-year-old children in Hawaii for several years and said, “I was a good teacher. I’d sweet talk them for two days, and then on the third I’d take their heads off, word-wise. … When I said jump, buddy, they jumped. At the end of two week’s my kids could swim twice as far as the other teachers’.”

The youngest of her three children, Sandy, met and married a G.I. named Rod Miller from Enterprise, Ore., while they in Hawaii. When Scotty visited Wallowa County for the first time in May of 1975 for the birth of her first grandchild, went back to Hawaii and quit her pool manager job to move to Enterprise full time. Her husband was retiring, but stayed behind to sell their house before he made the move.

Scotty Doyle never stops trying to convince other people of the importance of physical activity in their life, and worries about the decline in opportunities for both kids and adults in Wallowa County.

“When you get up in the morning you have a choice. You can say ‘good morning, Lord’ or ‘good Lord, it’s morning,” said Doyle. “I’m 80, and I’m active because I don’t want to end up in the nursing home counting the days until when the good Lord says it’s time to go home.” She notes that Wallowa County has a growing population of retired people who need to stay active.

Doyle is the oldest member of the aerobics class she leads, directing the exercises for a half hour from the deck before turning the class over to Cathy Schaeffer for the second half hour. “I work them hard … I tell them, ‘if you find someplace where it doesn’t hurt, it’s because I must have missed it.'”