A 73-year-old Arlington grandma honors her late husband by becoming a karate master
She is 73, has osteoporosis, psoriatic arthritis, is a grandmother, a widow and, as of Saturday, is now a fifth-degree black belt and officially a karate master.
She probably didn’t have to beg for flowers on Mother’s Day.
For a sport that she was once reluctant to try, Brenda Boozer is now Master Brenda Boozer. The sport gave her a life, a community, and it keeps her connected to the husband she lost.
She can still spin kick and perform all of the movements. The only thing she can no longer do is break boards.
“Well, I probably could but I don’t want to,” she said in her home in south Arlington.
Same here.
On Saturday in Arlington, with her children and grandchildren watching, Boozer earned her fifth-degree black belt and thus joins her late husband Jim who had also achieved the feat.
“She did awesome! Better than she or anyone expected, and probably a little sore afterwards,” their son, Brandon Boozer, wrote in an email.
When Boozer began this journey she did so only because her husband wore her down and to give karate a try. She had watched her husband train, and break boards. He could even break cinder blocks with his head.
“I thought, ‘I am marrying a crazy guy,’” she said.
After much persuading, she relented and tried karate. The agreement was that if after the (free) two-week trail period she didn’t like it, that it would be the end.
That was in 1992.
“I did it and my reaction was, ‘OK, maybe this isn’t such a dorky sport,’” she said. “I could do it and I thought I could be good at it. I was in my 40s.”
She and her husband practiced in Grand Prairie until they moved to Arlington where they started the Lake Arlington Karate Academy at Lake Church.
The academy originally started with eight to 10 students, as Jim and Brenda recruited and looked for kids to tell about the class. When the class size grew to 75, they had reached a good number.
The couple ran the whole operation. Jim served as a teacher and a mentor to generations of students. He was Master Boozer.
In the couple’s house, they designated one room for karate. It’s carpeted, has a treadmill, a modest weight set, and Jim’s framed gi that is signed by his students.
Brenda earned her first black belt in 2007 at a ceremony that lasted 2 1/2 hours. She eventually became a teacher herself.
In 2017, Jim earned his seventh-degree black belt, and looked younger than his age. Unbeknownst to anyone, however, he was much sicker than realized.
He had been diagnosed with diabetes when he was 12. He had also had open heart surgery later in life. His dedication to karate kept him in good shape, and allowed him to fight the disease better than most.
“If you had looked at him you would never think that diabetes was ravaging his body on the inside,” Brenda said. “None of us realized it.”
Jim died in September of 2018, at the age of 76. The couple had been married for nearly 28 years. They had three children, Stephani, Kathi and Brandon, and five grandchildren.
Now that Jim has passed, Brenda has taken over the task of maintaining and running the school. It’s a way to stay active, but also to stay connected to Jim and the community that she has been a part of for 20 years.
“It’s a legacy he started and I wanted to keep that,” she said. “I don’t know if this fills a void because of Jim’s death, but it kept me busy. I don’t think I realized I needed it as much as I have.”
She lives in a nice home, and she sees her children and grandchildren regularly. When the pandemic closed the world, and her karate academy for several months, she took up quilting.
Tradition says that she now must wait six years to earn her next, and sixth belt. She has every intention of earning it.
She just won’t be able to do it with Jim.
He helped her train at home, and in their studio. He was the one grading her for her fourth belt.
“That part I don’t like,” she said.
Despite plenty of reasons not to finish the fifth level, only a fool would think Master Brenda Boozer won’t complete her sixth.
