Mary Thoits '48, "The Peter Pan of Long Beach," Turns 92

July 5, 2015

"Mary Thoits may be 92 in calendar years, but she’s really the Peter Pan of Long Beach," reports that California city's Press-Telegram. "As the dynamic, fun-loving leader of the popular Senior Studies program at Long Beach City College, she’s never grown up."

A member of DePauw University's Class of 1948, Thoits tells the newspaper, "I’m just a ham. I love being with people and helping them use their brains to enjoy life as they get older."

"To prove her point, she jumped out of a plane over Lake Elsinore to celebrate her 85th birthday," writes Rich Arbold. "At 86, she went parasailing over San Diego ('A little too passive,' she said, laughing); at 87 she flew a Cessna over Catalina Island. She has crewed on a dragon boat."

Thoits recently turned 92, and turned over the reins of the LBCC Senior Studies program, which she led for four decades. At her birthday party, she dressed up and was treated to a fashion show depicting her nine decades.

The article points out that Thoits began taking flying lessons at age 16 and left DePauw, where she majored in English, to join the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPS), where she taught other women to fly. "She spent 15 years in Europe as a recreation director for the Special Services branch of the American military. Lured by the ocean, she moved to Long Beach and earned a master’s degree in public administration from Cal State Long Beach."

Access the article at the paper's website.

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