Beauty Through the Ages

Beauty's not only skin deep; it's everlasting. Or it can be. So say five Detroit-area women whose style, attitude and, yes, good looks, show that real beauty is ageless. Each of these women, ranging in age from 38 to 95, demonstrate that it's how you live that keeps you younger than your years.

Mary Lee Martin, 95, retired school librarian, Detroit
Mary Lee Martin doesn't leave her apartment without dressing nicely and putting on a bit of makeup -- a little blush, a touch of mascara and eyebrow pencil.

"I never go out without makeup. I'll see people in the hall and they'll ask me, 'Where are you going looking so good?' I tell them, 'I'm going to the mailbox in the lobby to get my mail.' "

Martin stays busy; she reads magazines, does crossword puzzles, enjoys television game shows. And she regularly plays bridge and pinochle with friends.

"I try to use all the faculties God blesses me to have at this late age," says Martin, who enjoyed 47 years of marriage with the late Dr. Wilbur C. Martin. "You lose what you don't use."

Also active in several groups, including a literary and arts club, a national women's group called Girlfriends, Inc. and a seniors group at Plymouth Congregational Church in Detroit, Martin even finds time to date. Every now and then she goes out with her special man friend -- who's 10 years her junior.

"When I first told him I was an older lady he told me, 'I don't care. I just enjoy your company.'"

Martin says doing her part to stay healthy also helps. She gets about 10 hours of sleep every night and eats well, making sure to have at least one or two green vegetables every day. She enjoys doing the hustle and occasionally swimming when the weather's hot enough.

Her hair remains the same dark brown color it was from childhood.

"I don't dye my hair. I wear a wig because my hair is thinning and I think the wig helps me look younger," she says. "If you don't have it, add it," she says with a laugh.

"Just because you're old, that doesn't mean you have to look old," says Martin, who gets a facial with her daughter once a month. "You just have to keep yourself up."