For years, Wanita Zimmerman told people that when she turned 85, she was going to jump out of a plane. So she did.

"I say, strap me to a good-looking guy, and I'll jump out of anything," says Zimmerman, an Elk Grove resident who celebrated her 85th birthday last weekend with a tandem sky dive in Lodi.

"I had a great time. I'd do it again in a minute."

When we asked you to tell us about the robust elderly – people 70 and older who are active and healthy – we knew we'd learn about a whole lot of energetic people who approach aging with vigor and grace.

We didn't expect to learn about Zimmerman, a widow and retired church secretary whose 65-year-old son took the sky-diving plunge at the same time she did, though her significant other, Robert Nash, 79, declined.

"He's just a kid," says Zimmerman. "Somebody at my church says to me, 'You're kind of robbing the cradle.' "

She and Nash drove to the East Coast and back last summer. They walk a couple of miles each day, and they play bingo.

"We're very active," she says.

So is Elsie McLean, who lives in Chico and plays golf three times a week.

"Oh, sure!" she says. "I play 18 holes every time, and I've been doing it for more than 70 years."

She made a hole in one last year on her 103rd birthday.

"People tell me I'm an inspiration," McLean says. "When you live this long, you have to be. I'm always happy, and I love people. And they seem to love me, so it all works out."

According to U.S. Census reports, the growth rate of the number of people older than 85 in the Sacramento region is already more than triple that of other age groups. And the number of the "oldest old" is expected to boom even more over the next few decades.

We may as well get used to the idea that robust and active aging involves taking care of ourselves now – and being prepared to continue doing so for the rest of our lives.

Lynn Persano is only 70, but she's already dedicated to the concept of better aging through exercise.

"I did a spinning class this morning," says Persano, a retired speech pathologist who lives in Elk Grove. "And I swam a mile. I just got off the golf course. I did 18 holes of golf."

That sounds kind of exhausting, actually. But there's more: Persano has power-walked four marathons and numerous half-marathons. She backpacks and kayaks in Alaska, where her grandchildren live. She loves to read and knit. Her husband, Louis, 75, works out, too.

"There's a whole group of us who do this," says Persano. "We want to live long enough to see our grandchildren graduate from high school, and we want to be mentally alert the whole time."

In Sacramento's Greenhaven neighborhood, Florence and Stan Quon credit staying active with helping them recover from their respective bouts with cancer.

"We play tennis," says Stan Quon, 76, an adjunct professor in accounting at Sacramento City College. "We were out there playing just this morning."

Mostly, he wants to brag about his wife, who at 83 hits the tennis court five days a week and beats men a decade younger than she is, he says.

"Right now, she's outside cleaning the pool," he says.

You make her work?

"She still climbs on the roof to clean the rain gutters," he says.

La Vern Gough-Guice still works, too. She retired in 2000 from the VA Medical Center at Mather Regional Park but now works three part-time jobs, ushering at Raley Field, Arco Arena and the Sacramento Convention Center.

She also takes piano lessons and works out with a personal trainer.

"I want to stay busy," says Gough-Guice, 70, who lives in North Natomas. "I like to socialize and be with people. Life is short. I've got a lot of stuff I want to get done. ...

"I want to stay healthy, and being active helps."

When Karen and Guy Anderson of Gold River discovered that – despite being strong and active – they lacked flexibility and balance, they started taking yoga together.

"I take responsibility for Guy's activities, simply because I got him started," says Karen Anderson, 65, who owns a swimming pool business. "You kind of have to prod these men. But he's terrific."