Know any mentally sharp 90+ year olds? (graduated, friends, married, twins)
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Most of the sharp 90 to 100+ individuals I know are amazing.... but physically... some are not doing well at all.
In the last 3 years my neighbors have and some are still here... 98 year old widower... still drives and plays golf... 103 year old retired school teacher that was still going to Hawaii alone up to age 100.... 94 year old and his 92 year old wife that still drive and spend a lot of time "Helping" seniors... 101 year old with her live in 85 year old boyfriend of 20 years...
Lots of very sharp independant people around 100 here in Oakland California...
They have the most interesting histories... the 103 retired school teacher taught in a one room school house when she was 18... she was also the first person in the county with a private car as a child... she sold the most subscriptions to the Nevada Newspaper in a year and won the car... they made their way to Reno to pick it up... her father never drove a car either... anyway... at 13 she was driving to school...
The 94 year old got his driver's license at age 14 becuase his father was injured on the farm and they had no way to bring the crop to market... he is 94 and still qualifies each year for his concealed carry... 60% wash out rate.
The 101 was the grand marshal for a Basque celebration in Nevada...
All of these individuals grew up early... all from ranching/farming stock and all in rather isolated communities...
Amazing the lives that so many people led as society changed so dramatically around them. I love reading obits locally as so many people led long (and often hard) lives in ranching, the railroads and mining and the World War. I am ever fascinated.
I'm a sponge for pioneer stories and have always found them most interesting...
Could sit for hours as a kid asking questions... tractors and cars with cranks always fascinated me... and my neighbor with the newspaper clipping of her winning the Model T was most interesting... I went to Nevada to her 100th birthday celebration... generations from the same family had her as a teacher.... she taught 60 years... Until the week she passed... the one thing no one messed with was her watching Jeopardy… she loved that show as was always shouting out the answers... She had one daughter... no Grandchildren... so the line ends...
My father is 90, and he still has it. His vision is going though, which is sad, because he has been an artist/illustrator/cartoonist all of his life (he and Charles Schulz were friends, and worked together on cartoons earlier in their lives).
I have been compiling "dad jokes" for a book I have always wanted to write for kids for years, consisting of bad, dad jokes that kids can tell their fathers (and mothers). If it gets a groan, then it worked! Deciding to actually do it recently (instead of just thinking about it) I discussed it earlier this year with my father, and he has helped me arrange the book some.
It was his idea to arrange the book by situation (jokes for the car, jokes for the dinner table, etc....), which I liked and adopted.
But better yet he has drawn 12 illustrations/cartoons for the lead in for the chapters. They are great, he still has it!
Once at my job I met a man who had retired at age 65. He had been working as an attorney for the City of NY. He said he got bored after a couple years, and went back to work. He was 95 when I met him. Still limber, swift on his feet and mentally sharp as a tack.
My great grandfather was sharp until he passed at 99. He kept his job until 90, and only left because they closed the business. He remodeled a bathroom in his late 80's, including lugging a claw foot bathtub up a flight of stairs. He lived by the mindset of it is better to wear out than to rust out.
One anecdote I recall him telling us: he was in his early 90s and shoveling snow in his driveway. His Doctor drove by and saw him. The Doctor commented, "Arthur, you should not be doing that at your age". When he told the story to us, he ended it with, "my Doctor is dead now".
Just curious. What have your experiences and interactions been? Please share any diet tips, life advice, etc and other nuggets you've gained from them.
My mother. She turned 90 on November 12. She keeps inviting everyone to her 100th birthday party.
Physically, she has issues but she manages pretty well in spite of them. There is a genetic disease in my family that my mother inherited from her mother called polycystic kidney disease (PKD). Three years ago my mother had a quad bypass and at the same time, she started dialysis. She goes to dialysis three times a week. Drives herself there and home unless the weather is very bad or she really isn't feeling well, then she has my brother drive her. She stopped driving at night some years ago because she doesn't see well in the darkness. Her eyes are good, though. She only needs glasses for reading.
By the way, my grandmother, her mother, had the disease but never had to go on dialysis. She died at the age of 94. There's one bit of advice--be born into a family with longevity. My mother's uncle, my grandmother's youngest brother, is still alive and mentally sharp as well. He is now 94.
My mom has been doing crossword puzzles and word search games for years because she heard it keeps you sharp. We play Scrabble regularly. I am very good, but she does win sometimes.
She goes to the library every week or so and gets a stack of books to read. She spent much of her life taking care of my disabled father, her disabled sister, and my brother who was ill and passed away and didn't have time to read as much as she liked, so now she reads constantly. She doesn't watch much TV except for news, cop shows, and Jeopardy/Wheel of Fortune.
As far as diet, she didn't do anything particularly healthful. Meat and vegetables were her mainstay, pretty plain cooking, but she baked a lot. Her diet is restricted now because of the kidney failure, but she has no blood-sugar issues so she eats a good amount of cookies.
One thing my sisters and I have commented on re both my mother and my grandmother is that both of them drank tea throughout the day all their lives. (Actual black hot tea, not the herbal types of drinks called "tea" that do not contain any real tea leaves.) We all grew up drinking tea.
My mom was also fairly active in her life. Not running to gyms or anything, but she just always did physical things. I remember her still moving furniture around in her 70s. Up until a few years ago, she cleaned her kitchen floor (and it's a giant kitchen, the biggest room in the house) on her hands and knees with a scrub brush and a rag.
She never smoked and did not drink alcohol except on special occasions.
She IS losing her hearing, but she won't get a hearing aid because "she just can't hear certain tones". That's not quite true, but she doesn't want to admit it.
My neighborhood is predominantly elderly, most are original homeowners and are will into their late 80's, early 90's. I enjoy striking up conversations with most of them as they still have their wits about them. Very rarely do any of them repeat themselves and they remember better than I do. Hopefully it's the water around here and I am able to continue the trend they are setting lol
I was at a chiropractor's office today and was in the waiting room. There was an older gentleman waiting for his wife; he seemed very nice and chatted a bit.
As soon as she came out, she paid the bill; he got up and they walked out.
The receptionist told me he was 99 and she was 92. They both looked much younger and looked very much with it.
My husband's grandmother ran circles around the rest of us with her memory until she was 100 years old. She remembered everything! Even small stuff, like who sat next to who at all our weddings whether decades or a few years before.
She also lived independently, walked to the grocery store pulling her little cart every few days to do her own shopping (unless the weather precluded it), and read books every single day until she was 100. She was the toughest broad I've ever known and one of the most wonderful people I've ever known. We adored all five feet of her.
She'd probably have lived another 100 years if she hadn't fallen at 100 years old. Her injuries necessitated moving into a care facility, which robbed her of her fierce independence. She died shortly after.
Staying physically and mentally active must play a big part in retaining physical and mental health in old age....along with inheriting amazing genes and being very loved.
Last edited by texan2yankee; 12-15-2018 at 01:22 PM..
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Known several - but
