TikTok video featuring Mesa couple in their 90s garners 1.7M views

By Richard Dyer
Mail | X: @RHDyer

A six-second TikTok clip of a married couple in Mesa trying a laughing trend has racked up viral views, surprising the duo in their 90s and the senior community they live in.

Since it was posted Jan. 21, the video @discoverypointretirement has had 1.7 million views. It was hearted 228,500 times. 3,827 people commented on it, and it was shared 6,693 times as of March 5.

It shows Ray and Jan Zabel at Discovery Point Retirement Community, 6210 E. Arbor Ave., with a headline stating “Fake laughing at his jokes bc Valentine’s is around the corner.”

“Jan shrugging her shoulders the way she did made me laugh,” Ray Zabel said.

“We’re so naive about social media, but everyone told us the amount of views we have are spectacular. Our housekeeper, Reggie, showed us there are thousands of comments and some even from big companies like YouTube, Mr. Peanut and One A Day,” Jan Zabel said.

Friends and family love the TikTok.

“They all laughed,” she said. “I just got a text from my granddaughter today that said, “That’s crazy, Grandma!”

Discovery Point Retirement Community on Feb. 19 celebrated the couple and the TikTok with a red carpet, confetti and a toast, posting a video on Facebook @discoverypointsrliving.

Emily Van’t Hul, sales and marketing director at Discovery Point Retirement Community, took the TikTok video.

“I recently started a TikTok page for Discovery Point. When I saw the laughing trend, I thought that would be funny to get our residents to do it,” she said.

Music was added to the video, which was edited from a longer version, Van’t Hul said.

“Yes, a few different angles were recorded in the process and are arguably just as funny. One take that didn’t make the cut, I asked Ray to move his lips like he was telling a joke. He proceeded to pop his mouth open and shut like a robot and waved his arms around,” she said. “The music was part of the trend.”

California, then Arizona residents

Ray Zabel, 94, has a hometown of Whittier, California. Jan Zabel, 90, is from Seal Beach, California.

They were both corpsman in the U.S. Navy where they met. Ray was also a chief chemist of a research lab in Costa Mesa, California. They moved in 1989 to Dreamland Villa, which is in an unincorporated island in Mesa, and then to Discovery Point four years ago.

Something many people don’t know about them is they were president and secretary of the bowling league in Dreamland Villa for 27 years.

The two have been married 70 years and have differing secrets to a long marriage.

“Honoring an oath to God and compromising,” Jan said.

“I just love the woman. She’s perfect,” Ray said.

TikTok at Discovery Point

The viral clip is one of 30 videos on the Discovery Point TikTok account. Van’t Hul came up the account’s tagline, “Aging ≠ boring. We’ve got receipts.”

“I chose that tagline as a short way to say ‘seniors have fun too.’ Our TikToks really exist to challenge the biggest misconception about independent living — that it’s quiet, slow or clinical,” she said. “What people see on a tour is the beautiful building, the apartments, the amenities. What they don’t always see is the personality — the inside jokes at happy hour, the friendly competition at bingo, or the spontaneous dance moves in the hallway.”

The business uses TikTok to show that moving to “independent living” doesn’t mean the fun stops, she said.

“They stay more active and that often helps delay the need for higher levels of care like assisted living,” Van’t Hul said. “If our TikTok page inspires even one person to explore independent living, whether here at Discovery Point or at a community elsewhere, then we’ve done a little good in the world.”

Richard H. Dyer can be reached at rdyer@iniusa.org, or on X @rhdyer. Please submit comments at yourvalley.net/letters or email them to AzOpinions@iniusa.org. We are committed to publishing a wide variety of reader opinions, as long as they meet our Civility Guidelines, https://www.yourvalley.net/civility-checklist/.

Richard Dyer
Managing Editor | East Valley

rdyer@iniusa.org

Meet Richard
Richard Dyer has worked at Independent Newsmedia Inc. USA since 1987, starting his career in Apache Junction as a copy editor and being promoted over the years to work as the editor of the Mesa Independent, news services editor for the East Valley office in Apache Junction, managing editor for the East Valley office, news services editor for the East Valley office and eventually also for the newspapers at INI’s then-Chandler office, managing editor again and as a news editor covering Apache Junction/Gold Canyon and Queen Creek. He helped start the Florence Independent while the news editor covering Apache Junction and Mesa news. In January 2023, he became associate managing editor for the East Valley newspapers and in August 2023 became managing editor for the East Valley newspapers of Chandler/Tempe, Gilbert, Queen Creek, Florence, Mesa and Apache Junction/Gold Canyon, while also reporting on Mesa and Apache Junction/Gold Canyon.  

Community: Since 2009, he has worked as a volunteer to design The Blue Guitar Magazine, Blue Guitar Jr. magazine and Unstrung magazine, which are projects of The Arizona Consortium for the Arts; and since 2014, has been overseeing the art submissions. 

Education: University of Arizona with a master of arts in journalism and a bachelor of science in agricultural communication. Also continuing education at Mesa Community College in welding in a metal art sculpture class.

Random fact: Saw his first tornado on May 31, 2010, which was classified as an EF-2, as part of a stormchasing tour group.

Hobbies: He is an artist of welded-steel sculptures, selling his artwork at juried and non-juried art shows.