SPOKANE, Wash. — Spokane’s own Mary Ann Wilson exploded onto televisions across the nation in the late 80s and 90s on her hit TV show Sit and Be Fit.
Wilson died in early November, but her program will live on.
Before Wilson was a TV star, she was a nurse who worked geriatric patients and polio survivors.
“She just had a real heart for people,” her daughter Gretchen Wilson said.
Gretchen spent her life working alongside her mother on Mary Ann’s TV show and on the board of the organization that oversees the content she produced.
“She has become something of a legend because somewhere in her mid-life she was teaching aerobics she saw that older adults were really left behind,” Gretchen said.
In addition to nursing, Mary Ann Wilson taught aerobics in churches on the South Hill, her strategy was simple but affective.
“She took a very scientific approach but a very fun approach,” Gretchen said.
She worked with doctors and physical therapists — but added her own charm, kindness, and some fun music to get the people moving.
Eventually, after working the phones and asking for a chance, KSPS gave her the greenlight for 30 shows. It took off shortly thereafter.
“It ultimately went to 90% of the United States,” Gretchen said.
She slowly grew into become our region’s Julia Child.
“A lot of people likened her to Fred Rogers, “Wilson said. “She had that spirit, but who she was on camera was who she was in real life.”
That’s right. What started in a church in Spokane grew to have a national impact. Mary Ann felt that the show’s perfect home was on public television.
“PBS was the best match,” Gretchen said, “There are no commercials and you can present a half hour exercise program with no interruption.”
Mary Ann was a proud advocate for public television — and was a believer in its mission.
Wilson explained that her mother was saddened by the recent cuts and spoke with the head of PBS before she died, encouraging them to use her show as an example when testifying.
Like her mother, Gretchen Wilson feels that public airwaves adapt to their communities, and since they don’t have to answer to advertisers, they have a greater power to serve the public.
Gretchen said that in a generation of streaming platforms, dozens of cable providers and the internet, public television is accessible for the older population that might not understand the new media landscape.
Through the power of public television – Mary Ann will stay on television for many years to come helping us to “Sit and Be Fit.”
“I think that she knew — she knew — that her program will live beyond her and that her program would live beyond her and that the impact would be far reaching,” Gretchen said.
