STAYS YOUNG BY HELPING OTHERS- Irma Kackert of Thousand Oaks has been teaching children and adults how to swim for 65 years. She began her volunteer work with the American Red Cross in Aurora, Ill., in 1943. The American Red Cross of Ventura County recently honored Thousand Oaks resident Irma Kackert, 92, who received a 65-year service pin.

Kackert's volunteer service with the American Red Cross began in Aurora, Ill., in 1943, where she helped individuals afflicted with polio and other handicaps to learn how to swim.

She became involved with the American Red Cross of Ventura County in 1972. There she volunteered to teach swimming and also did some office work. She worked as a transcriber at Los Robles Hospital and worked at a hospital in Saudi Arabia for five months, where she provided swim lessons to hospital employees and received international swimming certifications.

Kackert also volunteered at retirement homes where she worked with five senior communities, giving instruction in dryland exercises to those in wheelchairs.

She has three grown children, nine grandchildren and 20 great-grandchildren, and stays active with the American Red Cross by taking water safety classes.