| OCR Text |
But is it worth it? Dr. Thomas T. Perls, atrician who headsthe England Centenarian Study of Harvard Medical School, offers a qualified yyes. Heestimates that 30 percent of America’s oldest old have acute minds. while 20 percent or more may haveshort-term memory problemsbutstill are byjust fine.” Half ofall centenariansliv in nursing homes, for reasons that range from failing bodies and mindstothe lack of a support systemoffriendsorfamily. The bumpercropof centenarians has limes omery people who"ve confronted toughtimes and comeoutonthe far side. Atage 100, Audrey Stubbart is a proofreader and columnist who works a 40hour week at The Examinerin Independence, Mo. “I think I can deal with anything,” she says, “and I moreorless have.” In 1916, Stubbart. her husband andtheir son anddaughterleft her native Jowato go homesteading in Wyoming. “You squat ona piece of ground nobody but the buffalo ever occupied.”she says. ~No money, and you wonderhow yot Experts are at a loss to explain the surgein centenarians. a symptomof heart disease. PARADE MAGAZINE JANUARY 21, 1996 PAGE 5 strategy. Consider Marie Rinne, a 101year-old retired teacher wholives in an apartment in Denver. Asked whether her bent shoulders indicate osteoporosis. she replies: “It’s just getting old. Your bones should havethe privilege of bending after 100 years.” Of her advanced years: “The worst part of bein old is that you're not young anymore. Religion, in many forms. is alsopart goneto churchsince I was 9,” says Frank M. Winn, 101, of Douglasville. Ga. “I like to think it helped get me through things.” But he adds. “Some people think the Lord has themby the hand, and He’s going to guide themin every way. I think you're on your own.” pottery and ‘The expertsare at a loss to explain the drawings. surge in centenarians. The nation’s health“| finally realized not care system—including Medicare and medical advancessuchas antibiotics— every man | want to have helped get many of today’s oldkiss isa est pastkillers like pneumonia. But, by and large, the centenarians have not been saved by new medical technologies like heart-bypass surgery, because they have managed toavoid majorillnesses like heart disease. “They're able to handle dietary problems and environmental insults that living man on record in would devastate the rest ofus,” says. Dr. Perls of Harvard. Rethinking our ideas aboutage. Aside from the wonder of it all, does the increase in centenarianshave any larger = Meaning forsociety? At first there was concern that they would put a huge new financial Beatrice Thoughsome are careful about sit-ups, nutrition andthelike, others have been couch potatoes who have eaten three eggs a day all theirlives with nary shattered the assumption thatthe older youget, the sicker you get. In fact. recent studies show that people in their 90s and older have better overall health than those 10 or 20years younger. And while the numberof people 65 or overis growing rapidly, the numberof peoplein that age group whoare disabled or in nursing homesis increasing much more slowly. Qualityoflife varies, of course. Edith Dolese is 102. For 30years, she operated the cigarstand in the Cosmopolitan Hotel in Denver. “I lovedit.” she says. “I had my health. I vacationed in Mexico. 1 saw my friends.” Then her husband died, her sondied and, when she tured 80, the hotel was closed down. Now Dolesesits alone in her studio apartment in a retirement home. “My eyes and hearing are going,” she says. “I missreading more than anything.” She worries about keeping up her monthly payments. which cover rent and meals. She has noappetite. “I have noidea whyI've lived this long.” she says. Levy Washington,on the other hand, is one happy fella. He can’t walk these days—he’s 102—but he gets around fine on his three-wheeled motor cart, checkingonthe twohouses hebuilt in Adrian, Ga. He has rigged up a system ofropes that allows him to open and close doors, turn onlights and opendrawers. He’s proud every day. he says, because he doesn’t owe a soul a nickel andhis funeral is paid for. “I've had a wonderful life all the way.” he says. An independentspirit. One thing many centenariansshare: an attitude. Surveyspaint them as strong-minded, some- dimmed his aggressive self-confidence. “With my sharp mind.”hesays, “I knew I should gointocontracting. Eversince. I've had a reputation as Numero Uno.” Chris Mortensen. the oldest documented manin the world. lives in a retirement homein San Rafael. Calif. “I was always avery independentkind of man.” he says. “That helped me reach ” Now, he complains, thestaff at the home tells him whathe can and can’t do(heis pretty much blindand deaf and often confined to a wheelchair). They burden on our already strained health-care system. But studies | have shownotherwise. “Over their whole life- Edith Dolese, 102, operated a cigar stand . a hoteltill she was 80. e no idea whyI've lived this long,” she says. going to feed your family. You're 65 miles by horse and buggy froma doctor, and the kids get smallpox. Nobody can imagine how hard it was.” Max Zimmercameto the U.S, from Austria in 1911. He was 18, and all he had to his name wasa $2 bill. Now,at 102, Zimmerstill carries that same $2 bill—but he alsohasbuilt a multimilliondollar business based in Los Angeles and given $5 million to charity. Age has not span, these people have seldom spent much time with a doctor.” says Dr. Perls “Whenthey finally get sick, they die quickly, andit costs relatively little.” Daniel Perry, directorof the Alliance for Aging Research in Washington D.C., believes that the movement of so * many Americansinto “triple digits” holds messages for youngergenerations. One| is: Start saving for a longlife. “The most | importantthingis to keepthe elderly out | a nickel. ofinstitutions and functioning ontheir have not, however, been able to keep him own,”he says. “Butthe savings rate by | from his weekly cigar. “Take that away the young is very. very low, andthat | from me, I'm goingto die,”he says. could meanreal problems downthe road.” | The University of Georgia study found The second message: Start rethinking that one reason so many centenarians your ideas about who's old. “The cenhave been ableto live in the larger com- tenariansare helpingto stretch our sense munity is theirskill in dealing with prac- of human potential.” Perry says. “If peo- | tical problems like electricalfailures or ple live to 100, how can youthink of a | crank phonecalls. They hold their own person as ‘used up’ at 65? We're ap- | against peoplein their 60s. proaching the day whento be 70 or 80 Humoralsohasbeen a great coping is going to be middle-aged.” ie |
