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Shaping Up: Nearly 94 and still going strong Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/Shaping+Nearly+still+going+strong/5198680/story.html#ixzz1U41OIaxN
Sol Levine is a true role model and inspiration.
And not in just one area, I might add, but several.
First, there’s marriage and family: This October will mark his 70th wedding anniversary to Leiba, “the love of his life.” Together, they raised two children.
Second, in perseverance: Levine, who has been deaf since the age of 14, has succeeded in all areas of his life, both personal and professional.
And third, and most impressive, there’s exercise.
Levine, on the verge of turning 94 (but looks decades younger), works out faithfully six days a week at the YM-YWHA, where he has been a member for more than 60 years. He bikes, swims, rows, lifts weights, plays tennis (along with his wife!). And, remarkably, he gave up downhill skiing only last year at the urging of his children. “They were worried I was pushing it.”
But not water-skiing. He still does that. And prefers to use only one ski.
Unbelievable.
Levine beats the odds whichever way you look at it.
He immigrated to Canada from Poland when he was 8 years old.
“We lost everything,” he said. “Moving to Canada was a new beginning for our family.”
Levine said his parents weren’t even aware of his deafness.
“I could only hear out of one ear,” he explained. “Only when I went to school did they find that out. My mother was so shocked.”
He was a gifted athlete, whatever sport he played – “basketball, soccer, whatever, I just loved it.” But while playing hockey without a helmet, he was struck in the “good” ear by a puck and he ended up losing his hearing completely. He was 14.
Then everything changed for him.
“I was young,” he told me with emotion. “I was embarrassed and ashamed; I couldn’t go out and do normal things with my friends.”
He credits his brother Louis with helping turn things around.
“He never gave up on me.” he said. “He made me practise lip-reading, and we would practise over and over again.”
Levine enrolled at the Mackay Centre, a school for the deaf and disabled, but he was adamant about one thing: “I would not go there to learn to be deaf, I would go to learn, get an education.”
His father was unable to pay the school fees, but the principal saw something in the young boy. Because he was such a good athlete, he would coach the other students sports in lieu of the fees.
“I was a good example,” he said with a laugh.
One thing he was resolute about was speaking. “I was going to talk, always talk, I was not going to stay silent and use sign language.”
Talk he did. To this day, he speaks clearly, but still with a Polish accent.
Levine did well at the school, even beginning a Scouts troop. He and his scout pack did everything together, “even with the boys who could hear,” he said proudly. “I wanted deaf people to understand they could live a good life, do anything they wanted to do.”
Levine went on to work for years at Fairchild, a large Montreal aviation parts company, writing the company newsletter at one point, and eventually ended up working for the family’s dried good business.
Levine credits exercise with helping overcome so much.
All the stress of living in a world without sound disappears.
“The one thing about being deaf is that from the moment you wake up you’re always on edge,” he said. “You can’t just walk outside easily, you have to be aware of your surroundings and what’s going on. You can’t always relax.”
Which is why he especially loves to swim.
“I can easily swim 20 laps without stopping,” he told me. “There’s no splashing around, it’s smooth, fluid movement. I love being in the water.”
Levine is also proud of the fact that his waist size has never changed.
“It’s about lifestyle,” he told me. “Eat only what you love and you will lose weight.”
We could debate that, Sol. But he’s a firm believer: “When you eat things you don’t really like, or when you’re in a hurry or stressed, it makes you gain weight.” But “if you eat food you love, proper portions, and in a calm environment, you will not have a weight problem. I guarantee that.”
And he thinks television is poison. “What good is it for you to sit and watch shows about celebrities and their lives? Does it help you? Is it good for you? No.”
Unless, of course, it’s an information show on health, like Dr. Oz: “He makes good sense and you learn something; then it’s okay.”
And parents should push their children outside to play and run and be active, he believes. “Don’t let them sit pushing buttons on a computer (unless it’s for school). Push, push, push them out.”
A voracious reader, Levine decided a few years back that he would publish his life story and called it Living in a Silent World.
It was important for him that friends and future generations of his family know about his humble beginnings and the odds he faced and conquered.
He says when he was younger and lost his hearing, he never thought he’d love life at all, but he most certainly has.
“Anything and everything is possible.”
Sol Levine is a true role model and inspiration.
And not in just one area, I might add, but several.
First, there’s marriage and family: This October will mark his 70th wedding anniversary to Leiba, “the love of his life.” Together, they raised two children.
Second, in perseverance: Levine, who has been deaf since the age of 14, has succeeded in all areas of his life, both personal and professional.
And third, and most impressive, there’s exercise.
Levine, on the verge of turning 94 (but looks decades younger), works out faithfully six days a week at the YM-YWHA, where he has been a member for more than 60 years. He bikes, swims, rows, lifts weights, plays tennis (along with his wife!). And, remarkably, he gave up downhill skiing only last year at the urging of his children. “They were worried I was pushing it.”
But not water-skiing. He still does that. And prefers to use only one ski.
Unbelievable.
Levine beats the odds whichever way you look at it.
He immigrated to Canada from Poland when he was 8 years old.
“We lost everything,” he said. “Moving to Canada was a new beginning for our family.”
Levine said his parents weren’t even aware of his deafness.
“I could only hear out of one ear,” he explained. “Only when I went to school did they find that out. My mother was so shocked.”
He was a gifted athlete, whatever sport he played – “basketball, soccer, whatever, I just loved it.” But while playing hockey without a helmet, he was struck in the “good” ear by a puck and he ended up losing his hearing completely. He was 14.
Then everything changed for him.
“I was young,” he told me with emotion. “I was embarrassed and ashamed; I couldn’t go out and do normal things with my friends.”
He credits his brother Louis with helping turn things around.
“He never gave up on me.” he said. “He made me practise lip-reading, and we would practise over and over again.”
Levine enrolled at the Mackay Centre, a school for the deaf and disabled, but he was adamant about one thing: “I would not go there to learn to be deaf, I would go to learn, get an education.”
His father was unable to pay the school fees, but the principal saw something in the young boy. Because he was such a good athlete, he would coach the other students sports in lieu of the fees.
“I was a good example,” he said with a laugh.
One thing he was resolute about was speaking. “I was going to talk, always talk, I was not going to stay silent and use sign language.”
Talk he did. To this day, he speaks clearly, but still with a Polish accent.
Levine did well at the school, even beginning a Scouts troop. He and his scout pack did everything together, “even with the boys who could hear,” he said proudly. “I wanted deaf people to understand they could live a good life, do anything they wanted to do.”
Levine went on to work for years at Fairchild, a large Montreal aviation parts company, writing the company newsletter at one point, and eventually ended up working for the family’s dried good business.
Levine credits exercise with helping overcome so much.
All the stress of living in a world without sound disappears.
“The one thing about being deaf is that from the moment you wake up you’re always on edge,” he said. “You can’t just walk outside easily, you have to be aware of your surroundings and what’s going on. You can’t always relax.”
Which is why he especially loves to swim.
“I can easily swim 20 laps without stopping,” he told me. “There’s no splashing around, it’s smooth, fluid movement. I love being in the water.”
Levine is also proud of the fact that his waist size has never changed.
“It’s about lifestyle,” he told me. “Eat only what you love and you will lose weight.”
We could debate that, Sol. But he’s a firm believer: “When you eat things you don’t really like, or when you’re in a hurry or stressed, it makes you gain weight.” But “if you eat food you love, proper portions, and in a calm environment, you will not have a weight problem. I guarantee that.”
And he thinks television is poison. “What good is it for you to sit and watch shows about celebrities and their lives? Does it help you? Is it good for you? No.”
Unless, of course, it’s an information show on health, like Dr. Oz: “He makes good sense and you learn something; then it’s okay.”
And parents should push their children outside to play and run and be active, he believes. “Don’t let them sit pushing buttons on a computer (unless it’s for school). Push, push, push them out.”
A voracious reader, Levine decided a few years back that he would publish his life story and called it Living in a Silent World.
It was important for him that friends and future generations of his family know about his humble beginnings and the odds he faced and conquered.
He says when he was younger and lost his hearing, he never thought he’d love life at all, but he most certainly has.
“Anything and everything is possible.”