Age, Tragedy Can’t Stop Fitness Trainer

As he has for 15 years, Joe Raskin led a dozen senior citizens through stretching, stepping and jogging, but his heart was elsewhere.

“I’m not myself today, because of my tragedy,” admitted Raskin, 89, who leads a morning exercise class at the Valley Storefront in North Hollywood on Wednesdays and Fridays.

A week earlier his girlfriend of 10 years had been beaten to death at the hands of a robber.

Still, Raskin took the bus from his Tarzana home Friday to teach the class, but he ended it a few minutes early.

“What am I going to do?” Raskin said. “Mope at home? This is my job. I enjoy it when I do this.”

Raskin is a retired furniture store manager who had been a football trainer while in college. Physical fitness had always been important to him, and he liked to boast that a life moving furniture made him stronger. And “My wrists used to be twice as big,” he said.

Tired of seeing older people shuffling rather than walking, letting their bodies slowly deteriorate, Raskin created the exercise program at the Valley Storefront, run by Jewish Family Services of Los Angeles.

After a series of warmup exercises, the class participants stood up and Raskin made them wrap their arms behind their heads, jog in place, touch their toes and twist their torsos.

“He’s an inspiration,” one student said as she twisted her body to face the back wall.

“Hold that stomach in tight,” Raskin said. “Come on. Come on, let’s put some pep into it.”

Although legally blind, Raskin can see well enough to keep track of the students’ progress.

Some have been with Raskin since he started the class.

“We’ve aged together,” he said.

“People love him,” said Dorie Gradwohl, Valley Storefront director. “He has a good sense of humor and he does tease a bit.”

As they worked through the routine, Raskin tried skipping an exercise, but a student reminded him.

“Oh, you don’t let me get away with anything,” said Raskin, as he led them into another set of moves. Then he joked, “Anybody got a scotch and water here?”

Ten years ago, on the day when Grace Perrin joined his class, Raskin was inspired. “Grace sat over here,” Raskin said, remembering. “I liked what I saw.”

Impulsively, Raskin, a widower, got down on one knee to ask her to join him for lunch. A stunned Perrin, the widow of a Los Angeles Philharmonic musician, said nothing and walked away. But after gathering her things together, she went back to him and accepted.

Perrin, 84, the aunt of a Van Nuys municipal judge, was beaten to death Oct. 31 by a robber. Police said Perrin had returned to her Van Nuys home and surprised the intruder. “Of course, I’m angry,” Raskin said.

The death left many at the Valley Storefront who knew Raskin and Perrin shocked and saddened.

Some of his students carried news clippings of the slaying and offered their condolences. The routine of the classes has helped them all cope with the troubles of life.

“Sometimes I come in a little depressed,” said Florence Klein of Van Nuys. “Afterwards you feel more energetic.”

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