Jean Ramsey

On July 11, 2016, at age 65, Jean Ramsey became an exercise instructor. She teaches line dance and aerobic dance. Before the pandemic, she was teaching 14 to 17 classes a week. 

In Ms. Ramsey’s case, the move to instructor is not your typical progression from decades of dance classes to leading those classes. A retired accounting technician, Ms. Ramsey only started attending these kinds of classes a few years before. But her move from student to teacher came naturally.  

Not only does she have boundless energy and enthusiasm, Ms. Ramsey also has an uncanny ability to connect with people – meeting new people as if they were old friends. Jean attributes it to a lifetime of moving around the world. She’s from England but moved to Spain where she met the man she would marry. He was in the US Navy, so they moved from Spain to Virginia to Puerto Rico to Japan to countless other places before settling in New Orleans. She says when you move into a new place like that, you learn to make friends quickly. 

The new and old friends she attracts as students to her dance classes (her classes are quite popular), stand to benefit from something Ms. Ramsey has felt herself: better health – both physically and mentally. 

“I started taking dance classes when I was 62 and teaching it at 65,” she says. “Now at 70, I feel healthier than ever.” 

A lifetime of lessons taught Jean Ramsey how to connect with people and create great experiences. She’s turned that experience into a way to not only advance her on health but the health of those around her.  And that’s what makes Jean Ramsey a Peoples Health Champion.