Ruth Barnes

I grew up in a big Pennsylvania family where pinochle was the after-dinner sport and cribbage boards were handed down like jewelry. My grandfather taught me to count fifteens before I could ride a bike. When I moved to Short Hills eight years ago, I found plenty of people here with the same memories and nobody left to play with.

By day I am a certified personal trainer, and for the past six years I have specialized in adults over sixty-five. My sessions mix the two. We might play a game of cribbage at the table and then spend twenty minutes on seated strength work with bands, or start with balance practice and end with a few hands of pinochle. Some families book me just for cards, some just for training, and that works too.

When I am not working I hike the trails at South Mountain Reservation with my husband and our rescue dog, Peg, who is named after a cribbage peg. My family thinks that is the most on-brand thing I have ever done.