Community Profile

Lake Nahwatzel resident John Acocks tried water-skiing for the first time at age 10 on Lake Superior in Michigan, where his family owned a cabin.

"It took me seven tries to be successful, to pull up and stay up on the water," Acocks recalled. He remembers that number because his 12-year-old brother also tried "and was not successful at all."

Acocks turned 80 last week. He's still water-skiing, slaloming on one board always, on Lake Nahwatzel with his friends and fellow members of the Lake Nahwatzel Ski Club. Last year, he water-skied around the 2-mile lake 74 times.

His wife, Carol Ann, said s...