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Grandmother becomes Pokemon Go Master

Posted at 8:44 PM, Jan 02, 2017
and last updated 2017-01-04 18:38:56-05

LEE COUNTY, Fla. -- Kids and young adults were swept up in the Pokemon Go craze in 2016, but one of the most successful players in Florida is a 72-year-old grandmother!

"I have caught all 143 catchable Pokemon in the United States and the seven new babies that had to be hatched out, but I hatched them. I walked and walked," said Connie Emmons, who spent the Monday afternoon at Centennial Park in Fort Myers.

Connie got hooked on the app when she saw it on her grandson's phone. "My grandson got me started and then we became a Pokemon family," she said.

Connie was a teacher for over forty years. Even though she's retired from the classroom she still gave her grandson a lesson in how to play the game.

Connie gets excited when she catches one because it lets other people around her know that she is a hip granny. "I was at Wal-Mart, I went up to pay my bill and then young man said, 'Are you doing Pokemon?' and I said, 'Yes, I've got to get this one in the parking lot, hurry'," Emmons said.

She searched far and wide to catch 'em all even leaving Florida.

"I got Tauros in Michigan. They are north of the 29th parallel," Emmons said.

But for this Pokemon master, the game helps her master her most important goal -- enjoying time with family.  "We just drive around, walk around together. We have come across so many historical places that it takes you to. It is very interesting and a good part of this game," Emmons said.