Living Proof: Healthy South Bay Senior

Jerry Biggins is loving life at 91 years young.

Betsy and Jerry Biggins pictured at their Palos Verdes home.

In meeting Jerry Biggins, it is hard to believe he is 91. This is one active nonagenarian! For starters, he still owns and operates his business from home. He stays active with a routine of 50 morning push-ups three times a week and daily walks with his dog.

He rides his bike from Torrance Beach to Scotty’s in Hermosa Beach for a breakfast meetup with friends on Friday mornings. He and his wife, Betsy, attend church weekly, participate in a monthly gin rummy dinner group with longtime friends, and enjoy spending time with their three daughters and five grandchildren.

Jerry also enjoys watering the garden and, according to Betsy, is skilled in fixing things around the house. He even built the deck at their home back in the 1980s. When I asked to check out the view, Jerry patted his thighs resolutely and jumped up without hesitation—exerting full strength and balance stability—to show it to me.

Clearly Jerry is not your typical senior. As a health and wellness journalist, I assessed which lifestyle factors might have helped him retain this vitality and balance.

Blue Zones findings—created from research in areas of the world where older adults often retain memory, continue to work and exercise well into their 90s—revealed these commonalities: a supportive community, physically active hobbies enjoyed with friends, loving relationships, a can-do resilient attitude, work-life balance and time spent outdoors in nature. Jerry’s life reflects all these traits.

Loving Relationships

Jerry is blessed with a loving wife and family and a close group of longtime friends. He first met Betsy over seven decades ago at a fraternity party at the University of Southern California. Betsy attended with another boy, but that hardly thwarted Jerry.

“When I saw her, I leaned over and told my future best man, ‘I’m going to marry that girl.’ And seven years later, I did!”

“We’ve been married 64 years now,” Betsy smiles.

When asked for their secret to a happy, lifelong marriage, Jerry says, “We get along just fine. We like the same things and like to do things together.”

 Jerry with his family at a beach outing. 

A Balanced, Fulfilling Life

Jerry is the president of G.E. Biggins & Associates, the Palos Verdes-based business he founded in 1983, where he serves as a broker for the custom filing manufacturing business. One of the perks of running a business is the ability to set your hours.                       Jerry’s oldest daughter, Jill, shared how her dad used to ride his bike to his grandchildren’s sporting events all over the South Bay. He loves to support his daughters in what they are doing. The ultimate show of support might have been back in 1982 when he drove his daughter Kristin on the route of the PV Marathon the night before she was to run it, and famously signed up to run it the morning of the race. He finished too—without any planned training. 

Travel ventures included USC football away games, cruises and yearly ski trips to Mammoth, where he got competitive with his daughters on the slopes. “Betsy and I went to Mammoth back in college when there was only one rope tow!” shares Jerry. “I can’t ski now because of my knee, but it sure was fun. I do miss it!”

Jerry Biggins with his friends on one of their Friday bike rides in Hermosa Beach.

Embracing Faith & Resiliency

Jerry is a four-time cancer survivor who credits his faith and his wife for his healthy life. Jill also points to her father’s “amazingly strong and positive attitude.”

“He never complains,” she adds. “Throughout all his bouts with cancer, he was always so resilient and strong. It’s that attitude of ‘I’m just fine,’  ‘I can handle it’ that makes a huge difference.”

Jerry has had a hip replacement, knee surgery and procedures for various types of cancer over the years, but he never underwent chemotherapy. He always bounced back quickly into physical activity.

He says his faith in God is paramount. He participates in a weekly men’s Zoom prayer group and church on Sundays. “I am blessed with a beautiful wife, family and friends,” Jerry says simply, and that’s hard to argue with.