C2
Lynden Tribune | Wednesday, May 18, 2011 | Ferndale Record
SENIOR LIFE
Lynden native, in retirement, finds indoor rowing success Luanne Isom Mills wins Second-Half Champions Award Calvin Bratt Tribune editor SEATTLE — At the beginning, Luanne Isom Mills thought she was just participating in a medical study. It became immeasurably more than that. How much physical strength and competitive spirit she had within her 62-year-old body, Mills couldn’t have known until she pushed herself. The retired teacher, who grew up in Lynden, went from being a happily light exerciser to a seriously competitive athlete who holds world records in her age group for indoor rowing. “I am a 1957 graduate of Lynden High School and (by many years) a pre-Title IX woman, so becoming an athlete is a great new adventure,” Mills wrote in a recent letter to the Tribune. She was writing primarily to report that her father — Elbert Isom, longtime teacher, coach, principal and superintendent of the Lynden public schools — had been inducted posthumously into his southern Illinois high school athletic hall of fame for his football, basketball and track achievements back in the 1920s. But Luanne was soon to receive her own high athletic honor at Benaroya Hall in Seattle. She is one of three 2011 Washington recipients of the Wells Fargo Advisors Second-Half Champions Award, which celebrates extraordinary transformations after the age of 50. Retirement offers a second chance to do something really worthwhile, whether it’s volunteering in your community, going back to school, starting a businesses, or reaching for some other personal or professional achieve-