Jackie Conner

Never Too Old

They say you're never too old.

In the case of Bossier City's Jackie Conner, that saying is solid as gold (twice over).

After raising her family and then  losing her husband, Jackie found her niche in competition and became a national Gold Medal winner at the age of 65 in the Senior Olympics.

Her journey began with a collection of fire arms her husband left at his death and a little bit of encouragement and advice from a good friend who got her involved with the Bossier Council on Aging. When the friend also encouraged her to take part in the Senior Olympics, the guns proved handy. Marksmanship is a Northwest Louisiana District Senior Olympics event. But it was in the game of shuffleboard that Jackie made her senior mark. A tough competitor, she perfected her game through hours of practice at the Council on Aging and then battled her way to a Gold Medal for her age group at the 1999 National Senior Games (politically correct title of the national Senior Olympics) at Orlando, Fla. She repeated her title at the 2001 National Senior Games in Baton Rouge.

Since joining the Senior Olympics movement, she has been named Northwest Louisiana's Athlete of the Year and has served on the steering committee of the local games and on the board of directors for the Louisiana Senior Olympic Games.

Jackie is chairperson of the shooting competition for the district games. She also works to pass along the torch by conducting workshops and classes to teach the skills used in shuffleboard and other games to "newcomers" to the competition that is for those age 50 and over.