Genevieve Cichy’s secret weapon: dead-accurate aim and a zest for competition.

Genevieve Cichy liked sports as a kid, but it wasn’t competitive. “I was really a tomboy,” she says. “I played with the boys, and I was very active and athletic.”


It wasn’t until after her husband died that she retired from a career as a bank teller-turned loan manager on the East Coast and moved to California in 1980 and took up competitive sports. 


Now, the 98-year-old is a two-time national champion in lawn bowling. 


“I had never heard of it. A lot of people have never heard of it, but it’s 7,000 years old,” Cichy says. “It is a wonderful sport. That’s why I’m living so long.”


Cichy now lives in Carmel and still bowls at least twice a week, walking five blocks to the lawn to practice and rolling a 3-pound ball up to 65 yards. In the early ’90s, she was playing daily and traveling to competitions all over the U.S. and Canada. She bowls with balls that have pink dots, earning her the nickname “The Pink Lady.”


Cichy, who has two children, five grandchildren and five great grandchildren, started playing golf when she first retired to California, but found lawn bowling to be better exercise – and cheaper.


“Many people when they retire just stop everything. They rest, play cards,” Cichy says. “My life seemed to start when I retired.”


She’s now taking a break from the tournament circuit. “I’m resting on my laurels,” Cichy says. And she’s earned it. Most lawn bowlers Cichy meets are in their 70s or 80s, and she’s still going strong. 


“I can’t prove it, but I think I’m the oldest one still playing in California,” she says. She expects she’ll live to 100.