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"She was a real bright light, always did well in my class," recalled Person, 61, of the junior high school student who today is her doctor, guiding the management of her bone health.
When she's not teaching Humanities to gifted middle schoolers, Person is pushing herself in a step aerobic class and then stretching in a yoga class, each for one hour five times a week. She's shared her knowledge of how to keep bones healthy with the other women in those classes.
Karen also works with free weights at home. Then there are the frequent walks on the horseshoe-shaped island where she lives, just a 15-minute ferry ride away from Seattle.
Person's Norwegian heritage has primed her taste buds for a favorite calcium-rich breakfast: Swedish farmer's cheese with a slice of wild Pacific salmon lox on sprouted grain bread.
Her efforts to stay healthy and fit have paid off in many ways, including winning an over-50 modeling contest last year. That has led her to more modeling in trunk shows for Scandinavian designers showing their creations in the United States.
Through it all, Person has always remained the teacher. She talks to her three younger sisters and to her daughter about keeping their bones healthy, about boosting calcium in their diets and doing weight-bearing exercises. "When you are a teacher, you see a lot of information that needs to be known. It's really better for all of us."
