After a quarter century of leading a popular exercise class at Kalispell Senior Center, Creta Lund, 88, has decided to hang up her spurs.

The Kansas native and former backcountry horsewoman will still attend exercise classes “until I’m 115,” but will no longer lead her popular course Wednesdays at 10 a.m.

At the end of her last class, she delivered a heartfelt message to the dozens of seniors gathered there just for her.

“You have been a perfect joy for me,” Lund said. “You have made my life full.”

A direct, forceful woman, she is still able to captivate her crowds with her personality, using phrases like “simple dimple” to describe the ease with which she led exercises.

Her classes would start with things such as Irish jigs before cooling down with stretching and light balancing exercises, accompanied by tunes senior citizens have grown to love in her class.

Lund finished her final class and thanked her friends as the dulcet tones of George Strait singing “Amarillo by Morning” played in the background.

Although there are other instructors, members of the Kalispell Senior Center admit she will be missed as a leader.

“It’s devastating,” senior center director Khit Harding said. “We’re going to miss her terribly. Everyone loves her class — they wait all week for it.”

After her course finished and the seniors gave her a round of applause, Lund was surprised by coffee and cake downstairs along with an interpretive dance by Harding — a one-time-only situation, she insists.

Russ Penne, the senior center’s resident Montana poet, wrote a rhyming couplet entitled “Hurrah for Creta” in honor of Lund.

But Lund admits she was reluctant when she came to the doors of the Kalispell Senior Center in 1989.

“I had just retired and I came to the door, opened it and thought, ‘I don’t want to go in there, it’s for old people,’” she said. “But then when I saw the people there, they can do a lot more than I can do.”

Her exercise class became a mission for her. She and a partner helped cobble together the exercise program that first year, and now it meets five times a week with several leaders.

She thanked the community for being so caring, particularly when her loving husband, Bernard, died 15 years ago.

“You look around and see we are mostly women, many of whom have lost their husbands,” Lund said. “We know what others are going through.”

The Norton, Kansas, native moved with Bernard to Montana in 1963, and her impact will be felt on the senior center for a long time.

“She’s been like an institution here,” said Gaydyn Wood, a senior center board member. “This program all goes back to her.”

Classes will continue at the senior center on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and Creta Lund will be there, continuing to do “simple, dimple” exercises even when she’s not leading them.

To find out more about the exercise classes and other activities the Kalispell Senior Center offers, call the office at 257-1598.

Reporter Ryan Murray may be reached at 758-4436 or by email at rmurray@dailyinterlake.com.