Old age, to the unlearned, is winter;
To the learned, it is harvest time!
---Yiddish proverb
This means there are more senior citizens than ever and they are living longer, fuller and healthier lives. Men who reach 65 can expect to live another 17.7 years. And women who reach 65 can expect to live another 20.3 years.
At the farther end of the age spectrum are our "century citizens" - those who have lived to 100 - and we have more of them than ever also. And it makes sense logically, then, that these longer, fuller and healthier lives spoken of will benefit this group as well. But, of course, such studies and reports don't take into account individuals' family longevity quotients, eating and exercise habits, job and economic stresses and such other factors that can waylay century living.
In the 1960s much was made about isolated citizens of Abkhasia in the Soviet Caucasus. Reports of 120 to 140-year olds, in blooming health, were being shunted in the media. One elder, from Azerbaijan, near the Turkish frontier, was awarded the Medal of Distinction when he reached 150. He said he owed his long life to hard work on a collective farm.
/Shirali-baba Muslinov, a shepherd in a village a mile high in the same republic, was the "oldest person in the USSR" in 1966 at 160. Then there was Ashkanger Bzania, who remarried at 112 and sired a son. He died at age 147.
According to Russian claims this region between the Black and Caspian Seas boasted 5,,600 persons claiming to have lived more than a century, at that time. How had they done it? They lived 1,500 to 5,000 feed above sea level, did regular hard work, ate whulesome food and inherited strong constitutions, according to Soviet scientists who studied them.
But no one outside the USSR was allowed to see them. And, when people started asking for proof, this Communistic hype quietly disappeared.
In 1988, when I first started keeping track of century citizens locally (northern Idaho and eastern Washington), I found one 110, two 107s, a 106. a 105, four 104s, eight 103s, 16 102s, nine 101s and 25 100-year-olds alive. In 1989 six more were added, seven more in 1990, 14 more in 1991, one more in 1992 and 20 more .in 1993, In 1989 a book, titled "Idaho 100: Stories from Idaho Century Citizens", by John O'Hara Kirk (published by U.S. West as an Idaho centennial project), listed 155 centenarians then living in over-all Idaho.
Why was I researching in this region? Because I'm personally 90 (next month) and looking forward to the year 2024, the year i will be 100 years old. So I was checking on the secrets of these centenarians, how they felt they had been able to live so long. Unfortunately, none of these people had a glimmer how or why. Not one stated he or she started out at a young age with a goal of reaching the century mark.
One obvious reason, of course, is that Americans don't treat their elderly like the Hottentots do, or did, leaving them in the desert to die, or like the Sardinians used to do, throwing them off cliffs. In the local media reports, though, a number of elements stuck out that seemed to have worked positively for our long-livers. They took care of themselves, avoided stress and didn't take on bad habits.
My analysis showed that most of them worked all their lives, a great number farming and ranching, so they kept physically fit naturally.They did a lot more walking than we do today as well. According to pictures and sightings, there have been few fat 100-year-olds.\
They reported living relatively happy lives, working through personal and family problems. And they were raised primarily in small communities, among families with as many as 16 children .More children meant more free farm help! These traits would be expected since the American society was largely agrarian in past centuries.
Unexpected things showed up in my media search too. There were many teachers (12), though few college grads Some were teaching rural schools as teenagers. Many played musical instruments, often self-taught. Barn dances were the most often discussed "amusement" of the era.
The biggest surprise debunked the idea that these elders lived in one place most of their lives. In truth, many homesteaded in several places. Not surprising was the fact more women than men made the century listing. In my centennial study there were seven men and 60 women centenarians. In a California bicentennial study only two of 200 listed were men. And popular national columnist L.M. Boyd, at the time, revealed that two-thirds of people older than 100 were women.
Few of my regional centenarians let slip any advice or personal secrets for long living. Annie Palmer said, "You have to keep active....I don't drink and I don't smoke. That's the main thing." Mae Stuk said, "I was always contented. I looked forward to the next day to what I had to do." Martha Weeks added, "Clean, Christian living!"
Irene Hazelbaker was more of a philosopher: "Either handle it (age) or it will handle you. You take what comes and make the best of it," Eva Hodson thought longevity was no secret: "Healthy diet, including a steady diet of oatmeal, exercise and the work that goes with raising a family."
Most men queried were more facetious than helpful. Vineyard owner Charley Braunersrither stated, "I owe it to the grapes." Ralph Stickney, Sr., who gave up smoking at age 70, drank only in moderation and wouldn't take medications after that, smiled when he admitted he didn't know. "The family just wanted to be sure I suffered long enough," he laughed.
Richard Stout said, "I eat three meals a day and do nothing, so I'm in pretty good shape." He agreed with a newspaper report where a centenarian was asked how he felt and he replied, "Fine. In fact, I get around better now than I did a hundred years ago." He laughed and reminded me of the old chestnut, "If I had know I was going to live so long, I would have taken better care of myself."
Sarah Larson was asked, "What plans do you have for the next 100?" "I was just wondering about that," was her reply. One idea suggested was to check out possible endorsements, like the centenarian who was asked, "To what do you attribute your long life?" and he replied, "I'm not sure. I'm still negotiating with a mattress company and two breakfast food firms."
Still hale and hearty at 90 (next month) there is considerable longevity in my family tree, on my mother's side, with her mother living to 93 and two aunts to 102 and 104. She beat breast cancer twice and lived to 99 1/2 with no debilitating diseases or health problems (other than deteriorating sight and hearing). But one of her last comments to me was, "Why has God let me live so long?" She was lonely for my dad, who died a dozen years earlier, for old friends, all gone also, and for grandchildren, scattered so hither and yon she never saw them. Two specialists both told me that it is not uncommon that century livers just give up on life, unable to face such devastating changes in their lives.
Happily, many more century citizens don't face such losses
