Oldest person you ever knew?

[MariantheLibrarian]

My great-grandmother was 103 when she passed; I barely remember her, though. I more clearly remember Miss Edith, who was a friend of my aunt's. She was in her late 90s when she passed, and was still making her legendary pound cake on a wood stove right up until she died.

 

[Akubra Man]

My Uncle Bill is 93 and still golfs once a week. Good on ya Uncle Bill.!

 

[Stray Cat]

Oldest person I ever got to know (not in her best days) had to be my neighbor. When she passed on she had about 102 years. About? Yes, well..back in the day, they didn't exactly had system the way we have it now. IT was like this: when they get baptized, they get their name written in the books. And they would ask mothers "How old is the child?". Five, six.. what's the difference..
She was a nice old lady.. she always used to complain how she can feel "the chill" in her bones. I guess that's just old age.. I liked her, she was polite.

 

[cookie]

Oldest person I have met was an old Greek guy who I met when he was 105. He died shortly after and his 99 year old wife then chucked in her chips shortly after...lost the will to live. His son then had a massive heart attack at 60 but survived ...just.

 

[Shangas]

It's occurred to me that there's very few photographs in this thread. So here's one to share with the crowd:

My grandmother. Born May, 1914. Now 97 years old. The photo was taken this morning by yours truly

 

[Chas]

I know: Dal Richards - the only bandleader I'm aware of that was active in the 1930's - he started his first band at the age of 18 and in 1940 his band landed a plum job playing the Starlight Roof nightclub at the Hotel Vancouver. The shows had a Canada-wide CBC radio feed, so he was heard all over the nation. He has helped launched the careers of Juliette and Michael Buble, among others.

Jeni LeGon is about the same age - tap dance star, protege of Bill Robinson, appeared on the large and the small screen in the 1930's, 40's & 50's

 

[scotrace]

...here's one to share with the crowd... ...My grandmother. Born May, 1914. Now 97 years old. The photo was taken this morning by yours truly

Thank you! That is a wonderful day brightener!

 

[RBH]

Thank you! That is a wonderful day brightener!

+1 !
Fantastic photo!

 

[Shangas]

Thanks RBH. My grandmother is a lovely person. Very sweet. Here's one my dad took:

The nurse [gran's in a retirement home] asked me what kind of special event I was dressed up for!

I told her visiting my grandmother is always a special event.

 

[AtomicEraTom]

Awesome answer!

The nurse [gran's in a retirement home] asked me what kind of special event I was dressed up for!

I told her visiting my grandmother is always a special event.

 

[Shangas]

Awesome answer!

Thanks Tom. It's awesome and true!

Here's Golden Era granny. Photo ca. 1955.

She's in the middle-left, sitting next to my grandpa. The little boy is my dad. The little girl is my aunt. The three at the back are my dad's half-siblings (gran was grandpa's second wife). Of those, only the one in the middle (my uncle) is still alive. He was born 1935. He's really cool. He's told me a lot about WWII. He's one of the reasons why I love history. The other reason is of course...granny.

 

[Blackjack]

When I was a teenager, Nino Cochise, grandson of Cochise and nephew of Geronimo used to sit in the town square of Scottsdale Az. and tell stories. He was 101 I believe at the time and wrote a book. He was quite interesting, although being a celebrity he like to exaggerate just a tad on his exploits. Still all in all he did grow up in the Apache camps before the surrender and I was glad I got to meet and talk with him.

 

[Atticus Finch]

I'm glad to see this thread come back around, again.

After much thought, I still believe that "Ma" Taylor is the oldest person I’ve ever met. As I wrote earlier, she was over one hundred years old when I met her in the mid-sixties.

By the time I was eight or nine, I had developed an interest in the American Civil War. My father, who was always looking for unique things for me to experience, thought it would be a good idea for me to be introduced to a person who was actually born in the Civil War. So, one afternoon, he took me around to Ms. Taylor's house. I can't say that Ms. Taylor and I had much of a conversation...she was a hundred and something and couldn't talk much, and I was a shy kid and didn't talk much...but I did meet her...and now I understand why my father insisted that I do so. Because Ms. Taylor was born in North Carolina sometime in the early eighteen sixties, she was actually born a Confederate, not an American. No, she didn’t fight in any battles and didn’t remember anything about the war. But when she was born, her president was Jefferson Davis. Thus I can say that I have actually met a person who lived in the Confederacy...a Confederate citizen.

And there was another elderly lady that I met years later who wasn’t the oldest person I’ve known…but I’ll never forget her.

Vacation days and weekends when I was home from college, I drove a home heating oil truck for my father’s business. One of the regular customers was an older African American lady, named Ms. Frazier. Unlike Ms. Taylor, Ms. Frazier could talk. In fact, she talked a lot…and by that time, so did I. She was in her nineties when I met her, and that was in the mid-seventies, so Ms. Frazier was probably born in the eighteen eighties. I would always try to schedule her oil delivery last so that I could stay for a while and talk to her. She told me many stories of life in rural Carteret County during the early days of the last century, but what I remember most is how she spoke of her family. When she mentioned her mother, for example, she would always say, “You understand…my Momma was a babe in her Momma’s arms when they fired the guns of freedom for the Black Folk.” If I live to be a hundred, I will never forget the way Ms. Frazier would say that. It is one thing to read about that terrible institution in books or to see it on TV, but to hear someone speak about it in context of her immediate family…makes it very real. I know she probably didn't intend to do so, but I will always be in Ms. Frazier's debt for giving me that small sliver of insight.

AF

 

[AtomicEraTom]

Thanks for sharing this! All of it was very fascinating!

I'm glad to see this thread come back around, again.

After much thought, I still believe that "Ma" Taylor is the oldest person I’ve ever met. As I wrote earlier, she was over one hundred years old when I met her in the mid-sixties.

By the time I was eight or nine, I had developed an interest in the American Civil War. My father, who was always looking for unique things for me to experience, thought it would be a good idea for me to be introduced to a person who was actually born in the Civil War. So, one afternoon, he took me around to Ms. Taylor's house. I can't say that Ms. Taylor and I had much of a conversation...she was a hundred and something and couldn't talk much, and I was a shy kid and didn't talk much...but I did meet her...and now I understand why my father insisted that I do so. Because Ms. Taylor was born in North Carolina sometime in the early eighteen sixties, she was actually born a Confederate, not an American. No, she didn’t fight in any battles and didn’t remember anything about the war. But when she was born, her president was Jefferson Davis. Thus I can say that I have actually met a person who lived in the Confederacy...a Confederate citizen.

And there was another elderly lady that I met years later who wasn’t the oldest person I’ve known…but I’ll never forget her.

Vacation days and weekends when I was home from college, I drove a home heating oil truck for my father’s business. One of the regular customers was an older African American lady, named Ms. Frazier. Unlike Ms. Taylor, Ms. Frazier could talk. In fact, she talked a lot…and by that time, so did I. She was in her nineties when I met her, and that was in the mid-seventies, so Ms. Frazier was probably born in the eighteen eighties. I would always try to schedule her oil delivery last so that I could stay for a while and talk to her. She told me many stories of life in rural Carteret County during the early days of the last century, but what I remember most is how she spoke of her family. When she mentioned her mother, for example, she would always say, “You understand…my Momma was a babe in her Momma’s arms when they fired the guns of freedom for the Black Folk.” If I live to be a hundred, I will never forget the way Ms. Frazier would say that. It is one thing to read about that terrible institution in books or to see it on TV, but to hear someone speak about it in context of her immediate family…makes it very real. I know she probably didn't intend to do so, but I will always be in Ms. Frazier's debt for giving me that small sliver of insight.

AF

 

[hatophile]

My wife's great aunt lived to be one hundred. She was a great lady, went to nursing school at Mass General in the 20's, and then travelled through the Midwest and South during the depression, and at a time when travel was not easy as it is today. She later became a Public Health nurse in Vermont and was instrumental in making significant changes in the state's health. She never married, and retired at age 70 to Rockport Mass.
where she took up painting, and made numerous travels throughout the world. She read voraciously, liked to watch Jeopardy and the news, but no other TV shows. She gave up smoking when it was determined it was unhealthy, and drank only moderately. She walked the beach daily until she was unable to, and when weather permitted, swam in the frigid Northern Massachussetts water. She spent her final years in a Swedish Assisted Living facility in Waltham, Mass., and was alert and spunky until just before she died. She was a great example of a rich, fulfilling life.

 

[TidiousTed]

The oldest person I've known was my own great-aunt. She reached 104 years and 11 months and had actually lived in three centuries as she was born in 1897. She had very poor eye sight in her younger days and turned completely blind at 45. She claimed that this contributed greatly to the fact that both her memory and other mental capacities were kept sharp all through her life.
My sister and I visited her three days before she died and had a long conversation with her about our parents who were both gone by then as well as other members of our family. She had only one complaint and that was that she had to stay in bed most of the time and that was boring.

 

[mickeymurphy1969]

99 seems to be the magic number in my family.
My Great Grandma on my Dads side lived to 99 and was still doing everything for herself right to a few weeks before she passed. The only quirk she had was somewhere after 90 when she was talking to you she would change from English to Polish without realizing it and none of the Grandkids or Great Grandkids could speak it so we would just smile and agree.

On my Mom's side my Great Grandfather, one of his brothers and two of his sisters lived to 99. I knew my great aunts well and both were active to they were 95 or so. My Great Uncle lived in Utah so I only met him a few times. My Great Grandfather on the other hand was somewhat of a hoarder and suffered from dementia the last couple of years so my Grandpa ( who I lived with) and all his brothers took turns keeping him and he would spend 3 or 4 months with one before moving on. I was around 8 the last time he came to us and though I thought he was a hoot though my Grandmother about dropped dead. He stayed with my Uncle on the family farm before us and while walking the fields he came across a bunch of barbed wire someone had left to rot and found it wastefull so he wound it up, dumped his suitcase and filled it with the barbed wire. Nobody noticed to my Grandma started unpacking him in the guest room and opened his suitcase only to find it jammed packed with barbed wire and not a stitch of clothing. They had to buy him all new clothes but he saved the Barbed Wire!!!

 

[Shangas]

This seemed like the most appropriate thread in which to post the news that on this day, Monday, the 28th of November, 2011, at approximately 9:30am, AEST, my grandmother passed away.

Last night she suffered a heart-attack and was rushed to hospital. Her condition seemed to stablise but at 6:00am today, we got a phone-call saying that gran's condition wasn't improving and that the end was likely very near.

Dad and I went to the hospital at about 11 o'clock and were told that gran passed away about an hour and a half before.

As of now, cause of death is still unknown. The coroner's office will be carrying out an autopsy.

She was 97 years old.

 

[rue]

I am so very very sorry for your loss Shangas. I know you loved your grandmother a great deal and my prayers are with you.

 

[Shangas]

She was a very sweet old lady. I'll miss her very much.

The death isn't that much of a shock, though. Dad and I had been expecting it for months. Over the past year, she'd been having so many health-scares. Collapsed uterus, cancer. Falls. Trips. Being hit in the head. A stroke. And she survived them all. But we both knew that sooner or later something would finish her off.

Every time that gran had a health-scare, dad rang up the funeral director to prepare for the big event. And every single time, it was a false alarm.

When dad rang up this morning and told the man what happened, he laughed and said: "So it happened at last, huh?"

Yes, it did. We'll miss you all very much granny.

Me and granny earlier this year: