Morjorie Newlin

Our favorite bodybuilder

by Katherine Silkaitis

in memoriam

When City Paper ran an article ["Flex Appeal," TASHA Ho-Sang, Aug. 3, 2006] on Morjorie Newlin, the then-86-year-old great-grandmother and bodybuilder, we received letters of disbelief — no way was that woman in a bikini an octogenarian.

She wasn't a hoax, of course, but rather quite a remarkable woman. Sixteen years ago, the 71-year-old Newlin, unable to carry the 50-pound bags of kitty litter she had purchased from the grocery store, decided something had to be done about her fitness.

She began going to the gym, lifting weights, and was soon entering and winning bodybuilding competitions. Her inspirational story was featured everywhere from local news to Oprah and The Tyra Banks Show.

But on Jan. 24, Newlin died at age 87 of leukemia. Born in North Philadelphia in 1920 to Maqueritta and Arthur Greenidge, immigrants from Barbados, Newlin was well-educated. She earned her registered nursing degree from Howard University in Washington, D.C., and her bachelor's in health-care administration from St. Joseph's College of Maine. Newlin married railroad worker Raymond E. Newlin in 1946 and moved to Mount Airy in 1959. The couple had four children before Raymond died in 1990.

While always petite and never overweight — she said in a 2006 article that her mother sent her cod liver oil capsules to keep her weight up while she was in college — her will to remain independent prompted her to start lifting weights.

In 1992, Newlin entered her first bodybuilding competition and won. She spent the next 15 years continuing to improve her physique and competing in shows that took her to Germany, France and Italy.

Personal trainer Kimberly Garrison learned about her from a 1990s story in The Philadelphia Inquirer and was so impressed that she cut out the article and laminated it for inspiration. When Garrison began writing for the Daily News in 2004, Newlin was the subject of her first column.

Garrison described Newlin as a "very down-to-earth lady. ... She always said she didn't know why people were making such a big fuss out of her — we're supposed to take care of ourselves."

Newlin was more than just an exceptionally fit woman: "She was stylish, too," said Garrison. "Not only did she look great, but she had great personal style. Whenever we were out or I'd pick her up, she'd have on her leather pants and her little Nine West pumps.

"Here she was, a mother of four, in better shape than women a quarter of her age and she could rock a bikini. The only thing she had you would ever associate with being an elderly person is a hearing aid."

(editorial@citypaper.net)