
In March 2001 Dean convinced her parents to walk in a 5K fundraiser. Dean had run track in high school in the 1970s and eventually took up racewalking competitively in 1999. In 2001, Jenny Dean, the youngest of the Joys’ three daughters, got her parents walking with greater purpose. RELATED: High School Team Surprises Runner, 86, With New Shoes

(The two have now been married for 69 years.) When Jim was advised by his new doctor to begin walking 45 minutes a day for health, Joy joined him. That year she and her husband, Jim Joy, moved to Yucaipa, California, a city on the western edge of San Bernardino National Forest, 80 miles east of Los Angeles.

Joy didn’t exercise regularly until 1995. Play icon The triangle icon that indicates to play
