Phyllis Sues
Ninety Two year old Phyllis Sues has had an incredible life. But this is no accident, as you will see in this short story of her life, Phyllis is unstoppable.
Born April 4, 1923, she grew up as a dancer starting her career at the age of 14. She went on to perform on Broadway, being in as many as five hit long running shows. She also toured and performed all over the US and Europe.
In 1953 she married the actor/comedian Alan Sues and they did comedy sketches at nightclubs while she continued to dance on TV until 1968. Her marriage did not last long and she divorced in five years.
In 1970, when she was nearly 50, she started her own business that sold her own line of women’s high fashion sportswear. The business was quite successful and she ran it for 22 years.
But Phyllis just kept going, not pausing a bit after retiring from her business. She soon started learning Italian and French. And in 2003 at the age of 80 she began to learn to write music and play the piano and also learn Tango. Now she composes and produces music with an extraordinary group of musicians, and by the age of 87 she has produced six beautiful Tangos and debuted her music CD “Tango Insomnia”. She also has produced a Jazz CD where she plays the piano and also sings.
But she is not done. She also began learning Trapeze in her 80s and Phyllis walked into her first yoga class at the age of 85. Now yoga is part of her daily routine along with walking, tango, tennis, and jump rope. This is what she has to say about yoga:
“Yoga gives you a life you didn’t have yesterday. It’s a wakeup call to every cell in your body. Every muscle sits up and pays attention. I live to do yoga and I do it to live.”
Phyllis credits her long life to being active both physically and mentally. She is never shy of taking on the challenge of learning new things:
“What inspires me is the process of learning. Inspiration creates creativity and creativity creates a better life. I like experimenting and have no fear of trying something new, so flying high on a trapeze at 80 was never a question. Becoming a musician late in my life was not accidental. It was meant to be.”
Credits: This has been written by Raj Shah and edited by Ketna Shah. You can find more about Phyllis here.
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