words + photos dawn kish

I moved to Portland to get back into mind-blowing city culture. But when I met Phyllis Johnson, she made my mind really blow: WHAM BAM THANKS, MAMA. She is truly an inspiration to all. "Gymnastics is my life," she says with a shining glow that burns deep. Phyllis has been doing gymnastics for 13 years, perfecting routines on the vault, uneven parallel bars, balance beam, and the floor exercise as well as competing in state competitions. Sure this is no big deal for a 12-year-old girl, but Phyllis is 72. Hear me? She looks at her body and says, "I wish I didn't get so big at the shoulders," and she smiles. Her mind and body are in great shape, which she credits greatly to her coach, BJ, who has trained her since 1984. "She never slows down, always working," says BJ. It seems Phyllis is the oldest gymnast to his knowledge... and mine.

W.i.g.: So, where are you from?
Phyllis: Originally, from Idaho.

Really? I use to live in Hailey around Sun Valley, Idaho.
Well, I use to live in a much more boring part, the southern part near Boise called Homedale. There was nothing to do but work in the field.

So you're a farm gal?
The work was horrible, but the nice thing was you didn't have to worry about playing after dark. You could be a kid and be safe. We would play kick the can.
But I didn't have the opportunity to go to college, so I came to Portland to find employment. I worked at department stores and then at AT&T for 37 years. But now, I work at both the Gap and the Mercantile. The Mercantile has very fine clothes.

I can tell you like to work with different people.
Oh, yes it's a joy.

So do you have insurance?
I still have insurance from AT&T and I wouldn't know what to do without them.

What made you decide to go into gymnastics?
I was looking for a sport to do because I was retired and I thought tennis would be nice or swimming. But those were not what I wanted to do at all, and I just heard accidentally that my gym had a gymnastics class. And I was thrilled beyond anything because I thought only people like Nadia Commenci got to do that. So I went to the class and was really fortunate to have someone there who cared and it happened to be BJ. And he is a wonderful human being and he helped me so much and all the people in the class.