Senior citizens, especially those in their 80s, are rarely, well, full of spunk. Which is why I couldn’t help but notice Dorothy Vencelov the minute we met at the Ford Community & Performing Arts Center.

Sitting at a small round table, sifting through her photo album, Dorothy pointed to a picture of her extending her arm to help another woman out of a pool. At the time, Dorothy was in her 60s.

“I had a nice fanny then,” she said, smiling.

Obviously, Grandma Walton she ain’t.

Then again, getting someone’s attention has never been a problem for Dorothy. She talks about pretty much anything because she has a lot to talk about. Raised during the Great Depression, Dorothy and her friends used to walk 10 miles from Hamtramck to Belle Isle.

“We couldn’t afford anything,” she said. “We got free swimming.”

Dorothy worked at the original Sanders shop in downtown Detroit, and later did “taxes and payroll for Jimmy Hoffa and the Teamsters.”

“I was the only girl in the office, so I had to do everything.”

She’s been married, raised a kid, and traveled the world.

The rest of her story, and probably the most impressive part, is in a thick red album, in yellow, where you’ll find yellow, fading letters, pictures and articles from what may be one of the most spectacular ongoing swimming careers. She swam her first race at 12. A few years later, in high school, Dorothy beat the defending state champion. Since then, she’s made swimming her daily priority.

In her 26 years since she retired, Dorothy Vancelov has set several swimming records in Michigan and across the United States in the Senior and Master divisions. She has won races in Michigan, San Antonio and St. Louis. She was 81 when she entered the Michigan Senior Olympics and 85 when she was inducted into the Dearborn Sports Hall of Fame.

Today, at 87, she keeps on going, swimming laps and walking the streets of Dearborn three times a week.

“I can’t slow down because I’ll get bored to death if I’m not doing something,” she said.

Son Mark isn’t surprised by his mother’s active life.

“I’m always telling her to take it easy, but she doesn’t know the word rest,” he said.

What still surprises you after all these years?

“It surprises me that I’m still willing to learn new things,” Dorothy said.

Dorothy lives her life in such a way that has inspired her others.

What have you learned in life by watching how she has lived hers? I ask Mark.

“To live it to the fullest. Take the opportunity to do more.”

Doing more is how Dorothy Vencelov is winning the race of life. When she was born, most people in this country lived to only 45. Dorothy says she is strong enough to, at least, enjoy another decade.

“I’m 99.4 percent healthy, and proud of it!”

Eat your heart out, Jack LaLanne.