Pat Putz joined our tai chi class in January, 1999, when she was in her late 60's. She had been a pioneer in TV advertising in Des Moines back in the 50's. She did one of the first live TV commercials in Des Moines.

Pat has a fiesty personality and a great sense of humor, and heckled me from the back row, which I called the "remedial" row. I don't know that she ever memorized a form all the way through, but that wasn't the point of her joining the class. Her blood pressure dropped and her balance improved. She stayed with us, heckling and having fun, until earlier this year, when a medical condition made it difficult for her to do the forms anymore. She's in her mid 70's now. Her heckling was funny and she sometimes had a slightly bawdy tone to her comments.

Pat always joked from the back row that she was expecting a sash at some point, maybe a "polka dot sash," so one night around 2004, we surprised her with a white sash with pink polka dots. We took a picture when I presented her with the sash (see above).

Pat's one of the people who made my teaching experience fun in Bettendorf. I made a lot of friends in the 10 years I've taught, and each one is important to me. I'll never forget them.