Making a Splash: Meet the Merry Mermaids

Longtime Plymouth residents Gail Amato and Diane Hanosh are two of approximately 18 local women who have a standing appointment Wednesday and Friday mornings. The appointment itself, however, doesn’t involve much standing — these women are wading, flapping, swimming, moving.

Oh, and they have barbells in their hands and fins on their feet.

Meet the Merry Mermaids, an energetic group of women who meet weekly for swimming classes at Schoolcraft Community College. The Merry Mermaids' classes include Deep Water Aerobics (exercising with a belt around the waist in a deep well); Swimnastics (exercising in the shallow end); and Hyrdo-Toning (this is where the barbells and fins come into play).

“We do half of the class in the deep well, doing bicycling, cross country skiing, or jumping jacks,” explained Hanosh. “And then the second half is done in the shallow end. We do some laps, and then we do an exercise that involves an elastic band around a Clorox bottle: You hook the elastic tubing around the handle of the bottle, then hook the other end on the instep of your foot, and we do exercises.”

Hanosh, who has endured three knee replacement surgeries, said the Clorox bottle exercises do wonders for the muscles in her legs. “For two of those surgeries, I had to have very little therapy, and the doctor feels that it was because of the swimming that the muscles around my kneecap were strong.”

“I happen to be a person who likes to swim, so I swim five days a week,” said Hanosh, an experienced synchronized swimmer who competed during her college days at Bowling Green University.

Amato, too, has always considered herself athletic, but it was more than the lure of physical activity that drew her to swim at Schoolcraft.

“I was at home, I was on disability because I had osteoarthritis -- very bad knees. And I was just kind of sitting around, and my daughter talked me into trying Schoolcraft,” said Amato, 73, a 34-year resident of Plymouth. “We all just gelled. It was just the most wonderful bunch of ladies. Then my daughter coined the phrase the Merry Mermaids, so that’s how we got our name.”

The group started with approximately eight women about 12 years ago and has since grown into a longstanding weekly tradition that has cultivated friendships. That the women share a passion for swimming is only the tip of the iceberg. They also lean on each other when the going gets rough.

“We know everything about each other. We’ve had husbands die, we had one child die in his forties -- and that was the absolute pits,” said Amato, who herself is a mother of four adult children and nine grandchildren. “But we are a wonderful support group and reference.”

Amato went on to say that should a member need help in virtually any arena, the answer quite likely lies within the group. “Growing your flowers, sewing, cooking…just ask,” said Amato. “One of these mermaids will have an answer for you.”

A few of the women take a bible study class together at Northville’s Ward Evangelical Presbyterian Church, and they also get together regularly for rubber stamping parties where they make greeting cards.

After their swim classes, the women cap off their morning with coffee and breakfast at two local eateries. Said Amato, “Wednesdays we’re at Henry’s, the cafeteria inside Schoolcraft, and Fridays we’re at The Senate on Haggerty near Six Mile.”

“Even if someone is ill and has not been able to swim, they show up for breakfast,” said Hanosh.

Exercise and good food aside, the Merry Mermaids provide so much more for each other. “(What it does) mentally is the important thing, I believe,” said Hanosh, 77, who has lived in Plymouth for 42 years. She has two adult children and suffered the loss of her husband while she was a member of the Merry Mermaids. “We support one another, and there are a lot of activities that I do with these friends.”

What could be worse than being sidelined (read: house-bound) during your first pregnancy? Being Type A and house-bound during your first pregnancy. But Plymouth Patch columnist Courtney Conover, with the help of her husband Scott, a former Detroit Lions offensive lineman-turned professional chef, is taking it all in stride. Join her on the journey with "Waiting for Baby," a weekly column that will chronicle what goes on inside the head (and home) of a mother-to-be as she prepares for one of life’s most anticipated (and frightening) experiences: Motherhood. Check back here Friday, June 17 at 10 a.m. for her second entry.