For 36 years, she’s led a pool-exercise class — and has had some students for decades | Opinion

This is my 51st year as a Miami Herald journalist. Over the years I have had the opportunity to report on the good and bad news. In doing so, I have met many people who have become my friends. And I have made some enemies, too.

Recently, though, I had the good pleasure of being introduced, visa email, to just an ordinary, wonderful woman named Russlyn LaCanne. When there is so much bad news swirling around us, it is so refreshing to hear some good news for a change. So, dear readers, this story should give you hope and put a smile on your face.

LaCanne, who is 81, leads a water exercise class at A.D. Barnes Park Pool at 3401 SW 72nd Ave. I met LaCanne via email through one of her students, Ann Travis.

This is how Travis introduced me to LaCanne:

“Dear Bea… I am wondering if you can say something [in the Neighbors] about Russlyn LaCanne, who is the water exercise instructor at the A.D. Barnes Swimming Pool… I learned today that this month (September) she will celebrate 36 years as the instructor here. The classes are held Monday through Saturday, at least twice a day. Russ is 81, and now uses a walker to get around due to two surgeries on her back. Many of the ladies have been attending the class for more than 30 years and some come with canes, and other on walkers and in wheelchairs…”

I was totally sold.

I called LaCanne and we struck up a conversation. As we talked, I learned we had a lot in common. She is the mother of two — a son and a daughter. I am the mother of two — two sons. She is a grandmother of five grandsons and one granddaughter. I am the grandmother of five granddaughters and one grandson. She is the great-grandmother of three girls and one boy. I am the great-grandmother of three boys and two girls.

LaCanne said long before she became the instructor at the pool, she was somewhat of a health buff. She exercised at the pool and was an avid jogger.

“I used to jog two miles every day,” she said. “The pool never seemed to be able to keep instructors on a regular basis. One day the manager asked me if I would like to teach the class. I said ‘Yes,’ and the other ladies and I worked out a routine that would benefit every part of the body. Now, I’ve just celebrated my 36th anniversary at the pool.”

She likes it that the news about the class is spread by word of mouth, and that people come from as far away as Miami Beach to attend the class.

“I even have doctors who refer their patients to the class,” she said. “We do more than water exercise… it is more like water therapy. To me, exercise is just a bunch of jumping around. Here, we do certain movements for our hips and legs and just about every part of the body. That’s why I call it water therapy.”

She said the class averages from 14 to 17 people per class. The cost is $3 per person per class.

LaCanne was born in Minnesota and moved to Miami with her family when she was very young. “When I was in the seventh grade, my family moved back to Minnesota, where I graduated high school and became a cake decorator, and later met my husband, Lawrence.”

She and her husband moved back to Miami in 1963, right after their son Scott was born. Daughter Laurie was born here. The young family settled in and started an air-conditioning business. “My husband did the dirty work, and I kept the books,” she said.

Lawrence LaCanne died 20 years ago, and their son Scott, took over the family business. LaCanne said she still does most of the book work.

Although she uses a walker now to get around out of the water, LaCanne said she is not even thinking about quitting her job as the instructor at the pool: “Even if I wasn’t getting paid, I’d join the class anyway because I need it. In the water, I can do anything… but on land, I can barely walk.”

Dr. Enid Pinkney to celebrate a big birthday at Historic Hampton House

Here’s more good news: Dr. Enid Curtiss Johnson Pinkney, a Miami pioneer and community activist, will celebrate her 90th birthday at 4 p.m. on Oct. 16, at the Historic Hampton House, 4240 NW 27th Ave.

It is fitting for Pinkney’s birthday celebration to be held at the hotel because she was one of those who worked tirelessly to have the iconic hotel and nightclub refurbished and designated as an historic site. The hotel once was the hangout of famous people like Ali, Sam Cook and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., to name a few.

The program will have a Caribbean motif and will feature a steel drum band. Dr. Edward G. Robinson and his band, along with singer Mary Hylor, two of Pinkney’s former students, will also provide music and entertainment.

Tickets to the event are $90 each. To make reservations and for tickets, call Brenda Johnson at 786-346-9684 or send an email to, johnson.fred1944@yahoo.com.

Bea L. Hines can be reached at bea.hines@gmail.com.