Jackie Triefler is an amazingly fit 80-year-old. How does she do it? 

WHITEFISH BAY – Jackie Triefler grabbed a pair of thick ropes from the floor and, standing beside her trainer, whipped them up and down rapidly.  

“My doctor is amazed, my internist,” Triefler said. “She keeps staring.” 

On June 13, Fitness Trainer Natalie Levandoski took Triefler through several exercises at the Harry & Rose Samson Family Jewish Community Center. But it was nothing unusual. It was just another day for this Glendale resident who turns 81 on July 10. 

What’s your secret for staying healthy and having such energy, Jackie? 

“My secret is I don’t always eat healthy,” answered a wry Triefler, well-aware that this is not the secret. 

She usually eats an egg in the morning. For lunch, she likes to eat leftovers or an Evol meal from the supermarket. The steak and vegetable options are good, she said. 

“For dinner, I make a good, healthy dinner. I have a vegetable, a carb, a protein.” 

So, there’s no silver bullet to being like Jackie? 

“Being like Jackie is being constantly active,” she said. “I get up at seven o’clock, sometimes 6:30 a.m. This morning, I got up at six because I knew I had to play tennis at 9, and I knew I wanted to give Dixie an hour.” 

Many mornings, she takes Dixie the Schnauzer up the hill at Kletzsch Park in Glendale. Triefler also walks her three times a day, which said includes “two good walks.” 

“I play a lot of tennis. I play two, three times a week, and it’s very good for your body, tennis, because you keep serving,” she said. “It’s good for the body, good for the arms. It’s good for cardio.” 

“I’m always busy. I don’t sit down until after dinner. I go from the time I get up to dinner. And I cook.” 

She also works part-time at the JCC, at the front desk and at the pool. In the summer, with the pool work, she’s part-time five days a week.  

“I love it,” she said. “I have to tell you how much I love working here. It’s like I found a whole new life working here. You meet so many people, and you make so many friends.” 

So, is staying active the secret to being like Jackie? What’s the real secret? 

“There’s no secret. The secret is to stay happy and to find things that make you happy,” she said, interviewing at the JCC. “Playing tennis makes me happy. Working here makes me happy, and so everything else just falls into place.” 

* * *

* * *

About Jackie Triefler 

-Moved with her husband, Bart, from New York City to the Milwaukee area about 15 years ago 

-Came to be closer to family, including daughter Natalie (not her trainer) and granddaughter Sofie. 

-Spent years riding horses and skiing, but golf didn’t take. “I can hit a ball, but not where it’s supposed to be,” she said.