At 97 Dick Knepper still takes the Milwaukee weights class he wrote in his seventies
Dick Knepper was born in 1928 and lives in Bay View, on the south side of Milwaukee. He was in his seventies when he typed up a simple weights programme for other older people, and it still runs twice a week at the community centre under the name he gave it, Dumbbells for Seniors. He is 97 and still takes the class himself. This winter he goes to Florida, so he has taught Marcelina Agbuis, who is 82, to lead it while he is away.
30 September 2026
Photo: CBS 58
A 97-year-old in Milwaukee still leads the weights class he wrote for other older people more than twenty years ago, CBS 58 reported this week.
Dick Knepper was born in 1928 and lives in Bay View, on the south side of the city. “I just did it my whole life,” he told the station. Asked how old he was, he said: “I’m 39 years old.”
Photo: CBS 58
Dumbbells for Seniors
He was in his seventies when he decided the routine he did at home might work for people he knew. “I was doing exercises at home,” he said. “And I thought you know what, I bet you this would work for people I know.” He typed it up, and it has run ever since on Monday and Thursday afternoons at the Bay View Community Center, under the name he gave it. “Dumbbells for Seniors,” he said. “And that’s what we call it.”
Photo: CBS 58
Florida
Knepper goes to Florida for the winter, so the class needed somebody to take it. He taught Marcelina Agbuis, who is 82 and had no intention of standing up in front of anybody. “I didn’t want to do it,” she said. “I said no, let me think about it. I said I don’t like to be in front of people like that.”
Photo: CBS 58
She took it on anyway, with his plan typed out in front of her, and lifts two-pound weights herself. “He’s a go-getter,” she said of Knepper. “He’s always got to be active.” Dumbbells for Seniors goes on while he is away.
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