Successful Ager: July(ie) Galper

Beautifully spirited July Galper just celebrated yet another trip around the sun. She happily recounts her Birthday at the Lawrence Family Jewish Community Center, affectionately dubbed the JCC, alongside her friend where they shared cake and celebrated in the senior lounge. With her brimming optimism and infectious energy, one would never guess that her parents and sister escaped from Romania to Lima, Peru just 3 months before the Second World War. Born and raised in Peru, July expressed the difficulty of losing her remaining family. Yet, despite the loss of her family July lives by the motto “Live every day like it's the last day of your life.” July is motivated by her desire to enjoy her life, the JCC being an integral component of her social community. “The JCC is open to everyone not just Jewish people” she explains, and that “interacting with people is one of the most important parts of her aging.”

With her son in Australia across the globe, July builds her support system through the JCC and by connecting with her kindergarten classmates on WhatsApp. She explains, “Lima is different from here, you are with the same people from kindergarten to high school so the bonds are strong.” July is excited about her upcoming trip to San Francisco with one of those very friends, who are smiling together in the picture to the right.

Social contact is among her three tenets of healthy aging, which she emphasizes alongside exercise and nutrition. July asserts “Number one is exercise” and that “exercise is my religion.” To July exercise is about physical, emotional, and psychological wellbeing. She advises anyone struggling with age to “look around, interact with people, and do the three most important things.” She recommends the elderly get a trainer and try to go to the gym at least twice a week because of its potent benefits on mood and socializing. July voices the key role of exercise in her life: “If you are not active it is easy to get depressed unless you have family close by.”

True to her own words July leads a very active lifestyle, spending her mornings in the gym facility at the JCC, interacting with fellow gym goers, and fostering a sense of community. She believes it is impossible to be 100% and yet though “everyone has something” to age successfully you should “do everything you can to be in good health.” July’s morning exercise ritual is a must, however, the rest of her day can be filled with various activities. July is a member of the UCSD Osher Lifelong Learning Insitute where she spends her time meeting wonderful people, making incredible friends, and attending lectures that spark her interest from medicine to music. To July, Osher “ is a gift” and with her dynamic personality, Osher allows her to continue seeking new experiences with others. She explains “It's my personality, I don’t like to sit at home, I like to talk to people.”

Among her many interests, July has a passion for classical music. She recounts learning piano as a child at the Lima Conservatory. She loves buying tickets for the symphony and La Jolla Music Society a favorite piece of hers: the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto. July marries her deep love for music with her strong Jewish Identity by helping to bring Israeli classical musicians from all over to San Diego. Her altruism extends further through her involvementwith the United Jewish Federation and Jewish Family Service where she helps to support “everybody in need.” In her free time, she volunteers with the children at the JCC expressing how she misses them when she can not. July is pictured on the right with world renowned violinist Asi Mattathias who will be performing at the JCC on November 8, 2024. Below she stands alongside Tal Haim’samnon a talented pianist and shares a happy moment with Avi Avital a classical mandolinist.

Looking back, July reflects that her biggest regret is not asking her mother and father more questions. She explains “It is so important to talk to older people, they will tell you many important things about life.” July finds respect to be of the utmost importance and exclaims how it is very concerning how young people’s values have shifted. July believes it is critical to “not dismiss people because they are older–you can learn a lot from older people.” Something that could never ring more true when there is so much to learn from the speaker herself.