MILLERTON — On July 13, 2024, 75-year-old Paul Perkins of Millerton won the USA National American Drug Free Powerlifting Federation competition in Boston, Massachusetts.
Perkins wants others to know that they can be active and fit at any age. “I am living proof that it can be done because I am 75 and still going strong,” he said.
Whatever exercise you choose, the key is to “make yourself do it every day,” Perkins said. “Even if you don’t feel like it. It has to become part of your lifestyle, like brushing your teeth.”
Paul Perkins became interested in powerlifting when he was looking for something to change his own routine. He also runs and loves to surf.
“Powerlifting has introduced me to a whole new set of exercises,” Perkins said.
Perkins belongs to Gold’s Gym, but during the COVID-19 pandemic Perkins converted a bay of his three-car garage into a gym.
Perkins has a routine that he follows every day. He begins with an hour of warm-ups. “Warming up is especially important as you age,” he said. He favors “dynamic stretching” which takes muscles and joints through their full range of motion. He goes on to interval training, in which for example, he might run for four minutes and then walk four minutes, and train with weights.
He points to Dr. Jeffery Life who wrote “Mastering Life Plan,” Bill Phillips who wrote “Body for Life,” Chris Heria of YouTube, and Dr. Mike Israetel, author of “Scientific Principles of Strength Training” as inspiration.
Perkins eats a few small meals a day beginning with a breakfast of Greek yogurt and fruit, then a lunch of egg whites for protein and rice. Dinner is usually a salad and at least once a week salmon for Omega-3’s, with small snacks like an apple between.
He said of the powerlifting competition where he won in the 150-pound deadlift category, “It was one of the best experiences in life.” He “still gets goosebumps thinking about it.” Not only did he have his family cheering him on, but other competitors and spectators cheered too. “The comradery is stunning.”
The rules are strict in powerlifting. Each competitor must compete in the “Squat,” holding a weighted barbell across the shoulders, squatting with it, and returning to standing position; “Bench Press,” lifting the weights while laying down on a bench; and “Dead Lifting,” picking the weights off the floor to a standing position. Competitors are weighed in and judges look at your clothes, “even your underwear,” said Perkins. Competitors can win a category or have the best score in all three for the overall win. Judges are on all sides watching each competitor as they lift the weights.
For Paul Perkins, his message is one of “health and longevity.” He stresses there are “no magic pills” and that “they simply don’t exist and do not take the place of boring, daily, consistent hard work and common sense.”
Perkins points to what research has found as “five fundamental lifestyle behaviors” to achieve longevity: “1. Exercise regularly. 2. Eat a nutritious diet. 3. Avoid cigarettes and limit alcohol consumption. 4. Sleep eight hours a night regularly 5. Nurture meaningful relationships.”
Perkins has set his sights on the World Drug Free Powerlifting Federation Competition which takes place in November in Cape Cod, Massachusetts.
In Boston Corners, 74-year-old powerlifter Mike Burch has been busy breaking records. In fact, he has broken twelve for his age group in three years. He has his sights set on the World Powerlifting Associations World Championship on Sept. 28. in Oakville, Conn.
Mike Burch, now 74, of Boston Corners, competing at the American Powerlifting Competition. Mike has been lifting since he was six years old and has never stopped. Photo provided
Burch has been powerlifting since the 1950’s. He began weight lifting as a child to help with his lung capacity when he was diagnosed with asthma. He has continued ever since and was top ranked in the 1960’s, 70’s and 80’s.
“I’m the only one still out there of all I lifted against in the 60’s and 70’s.” Burch commented. Burch has never stopped lifting weights although he did stop competing for a while. He began again when his grandson, Eli, encouraged him to get back into it. His grandson now competes and trains with his grandfather.
The annual Millerton Fire Company Easter egg hunt returned to Eddie Collins Memorial Park on Saturday, April 4.
Tyler Dehoff discovers a piece of chocolate in a plastic egg at the zero to two-year-old egg hunt area.Nathan Miller
Families crowd into hay wagons for a parade down Main Street to the park before the egg hunt.Nathan Miller
Bob Stevens, right, enjoys the swinging sounds of country and western music during a trip to Nashville, Tennessee, with his son, Robert Stevens Jr., not pictured.
Stevens’s only son, 39-year-old Robert Stevens Jr., along with employees at the town garage and others in the community, remembered Stevens as a dedicated man with a singular passion for highway maintenance.
“It was an absolutely huge part of his life,” Robert said.
Robert Jr. said Stevens was as supportive as a father as he was dedicated to his work for the town. He recalled a week-long BMX biking trip to Camp Woodward in Pennsylvania that his father drove him to and from, making the round trip twice without a complaint.
“It didn’t matter how little or how far we were going,” Robert said. “If it was to support me, he was on. Always.”
Road crew foreman Shawn Morrison said that supportive nature extended to Stevens’s role as Highway Superintendent, where he prioritized the safety of workers and drivers above all else.
“He always said to me, ‘If you don’t feel safe doing it, then we’re not going to do it,’” Morrison said.
Morrison praised Stevens’s dedication to his post, saying he often worked long hours and weekends out of a love for the job. Winter was a favorite season, as Morrison said he was obsessive about clearing the town’s roads during snowstorms.
“A lot of people had nicknames out there for him — calling him ‘Bare-road Bob,’” Morrison said. “He was anal about his roads in the winter.”
Stevens rarely missed a day of work, for sickness or for pleasure, road crew employees and Town Supervisor Chris Kennan said. Joshua Schultz, a road crew member and Stevens’s godson, said he could remember one notable absence. “He took his son to Nashville,” Schultz said.
Photo providedBob Stevens, right, and his son, Robert Stevens Jr., pose for a photograph together. Robert remembered his father as a caring and supportive man following his death on Monday, March 30.Photo provided
Robert Jr. said he and his father traveled twice to Nashville, Tennessee — among the few trips they took together — but a third visit was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Other travel opportunities often depended on Stevens’s work at the town garage. “If it was wintertime, he’s here,” Robert said. “He’s taking care of the town.”
Sickness didn’t keep Stevens at home either. Morrison said he would work from his well-known orange pickup truck to keep from spreading colds to people.
The orange pick-up truck was a fixture around town, Supervisor Chris Kennan said. Stevens was often spotted inspecting roads across town in the recognizable truck, when it wasn’t parked at the town garage while he worked in his office.
Kennan said the town will begin a search for a new Highway Superintendent, with a committee expected to form at the Thursday, April 9, Town board meeting. He also expects the board to install a plaque at the town garage on Route 22 honoring Stevens’s service.
Kennan proposed the plaque at a special meeting of the Town Board on April 1, saying a modest display would respect Stevens’s private nature.
“I’m excited that we’re going to put a plaque on that building,” Kennan said. “It’s appropriate that there be some reflection of what he put into it.”
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