Centenarian Role Models

Michael Brickey, Ph.D.

Role models teach us and inspire us. As a kid you probably had lots of heroes and role models. You need them as an adult as well. Role models are a short cut from learning by trial and error. If you want to know how to age well, look at today’s centenarians.

The New England Centenarian study found that most of the centenarians they studied were mentally and physically sharp. Most did not have a disability until the last four years of their lives. They averaged one prescription medication. Typically, they died at home from an acute illness or a fall.

Here are a few of my favorite centenarian role models:

Sadie and Bessie Delany’s father was a slave who was freed after the Civil War. Their careers eventually took them to Harlem where Sadie became a teacher and Bessie a dentist. Neither married. They loved reading, learning, and friends. They refused to have a television set or phone at home. When Sadie was 102 and Bessie 100, a reporter interviewed them. The reporter was so smitten with their vitality that she persuaded them to write a book. Their book, Having Our Say, became a best seller and a successful Broadway play and later yet a CBS Television movie. They wrote another best selling book, The Delany Sisters’ Book of Everyday Wisdom. When Bessie died at home at age 104, Sadie wrote On My Own at 107: Reflection of Life Without Bessie. At age 109 Sadie died in her sleep at home.

George Dawson, grandson of a slave, started working at age eight to help support his family. He “got tired of writing my name with an X” and learned to read and write at age 98. At 102 he co-wrote his autobiography, Life is So Good.

At 89 Selma Plaut started auditing courses at the University of Toronto. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree when she was 100. English wasn’t even her native language as she was a Jewish refugee from Nazi Germany.

"Grandma Moses" began painting rural scenes for her own pleasure in her late 70s. Without formal art training, her work became internationally acclaimed and she was still painting at 100.

Dr. Henry Stenhouse ran for Congress when he was 100. Other centenarians teach college, conduct symphony orchestras, paint, sculpt, dance, and even father children. One of the best sources for profiles of centenarians is the book, Centenarians: The Bonus Years by Lynn Peters Adler. Centenarian role models certainly illustrate that you are never too old to do what you love or even to start a new career.

There are few physical traits that distinguish centenarians. They are physically active, most do not smoke, and most maintain their same weight throughout their adult life. About the only thing that characterized their diets were that most ate a wide variety of foods.

The centenarian traits that stand out are mental traits. They are very independent, self-reliant individuals with a strong sense of purpose. They have a good sense of humor and are good at dealing with loss and change. They have a passion for life.

The centenarian spirit is illustrated in a joke--A centenarian goes to the doctor complaining of a pain in his knee. The doctor said, “At your age what can you expect?” The patient replied, “To fix my knee. My other knee is the same age and it works fine.”

The oldest person with good documentation of her age was Jean Calment. She lived in Arles, France and died in 1997 at age 122. She was always a physically active woman who wasn’t overly concerned about others’ expectations. She had a good appetite–not just for food but for everything. She never had fluctuations in her weight. She smoked a few cigarettes a day until she was 117 when she quit on her own initiative with no explanation. She enjoyed port wine and chocolates. She still rode a bicycle at 100. Part of her “secret” was that “I never get bored.”

At 109, largely because of visual limitations, she moved into a retirement home where her diet was unappealingly institutional. Her biographer reports that she never adjusted to the facility’s routines nor they to hers. She would wake herself at 6:45 a.m. and begin her day with prayer and exercise. Her days were very self-structured. Although virtually blind, she got around the facility faster than most of the other residents. Failing vision and hearing compromised the quality of her last years. She declined eye surgery for the severe cataracts in both of her eyes. She might have lived considerably longer and better if she had taken a daily vitamin most of her life, did not smoke, and had the cataract surgery. The surgery would have allowed her to be more active and mobile. Her life is described in the biography, Jeanne Calment: From Van Gough’s Time To Ours: 122 Extraordinary Years.

There is an amusing anecdote about her finances. When she was 90, she entered into a contract with an attorney. He agreed to pay her $500 a month (“en viager”) for the rest of her life and he would own her apartment in Arles when she died. She lived to 122. He died at the age of 77 after paying over $184,000 (far more than the apartment’s value). His widow continued paying after his death.

George Burns booked his act past his hundredth birthday to mentally suggest to himself that he would live that long (and he did). As he put it, “You can’t help getting older but you don’t have to get old.” He also quipped, “With a little luck, there’s no reason why you can’t make it to be 100. Once you’ve done that, you’ve got it made, because very few people die over 100.” Research agrees with Mr. Burns. Mortality rates are lower for people in their hundreds than for people in their nineties. We all need goals and achievements to look forward to. Unfortunately, Burns did not schedule a party for his 101st birthday.





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Dr. Michael Brickey is President of the Ageless Lifestyles Institute and author of Defy Aging. His new book, 52 baby steps to Grow Young, gives two-page-a-week practical steps for developing a youthful mindset at every age. Further information is at www.DrBrickey.com.