#centenarian

[unbfacts]

[thunderstruck9]

Eunice Parsons (American, 1916-2024), Composition in Black, Brown & White. Oil on canvas, 28 x 40 in.

[yourdailyqueer]

With regard to a tag, do you think tagging centenarians would be relevant? It's already a big deal for us to see queer elders, but seeing people live to a hundred or more is like, wow! Edward Field post made me think of that.

Hmm possibly but there are so few people who make it past 100 that i'm not sure if it's worth it? I will make a poll.

[sandimexicola]

Centenarian

Midjourney prompt: **elderly with dimension --chaos 25 --style raw --personalize s4ef56p** - Image #1

[lionessofwindsor]

Wishing a Happy 100th Birthday to the great Glynis Johns!

[the-football-chick]

There you have it

[legok9]

A lot of people don't know this, but Jimmy Carter (US president) and William Russell (Doctor Who actor) have been in a secret race to see who will live to 100 first.

Carter has the advantage by being born in October but Russell has the advantage of being exposed to Artron energy while time traveling in the TARDIS.

[thepastisalreadywritten]

Ottawa, Illinois — At 104 years old, Dorothy Hoffner fell.

Then she kept falling, and falling, and falling. And when the lifelong Chicagoan finally touched the ground Sunday, she landed in the history books and became the oldest person to ever sky-dive.

“Age is just a number,” Hoffner told a cheering crowd moments after touching the ground at the Skydive Chicago Airport in Ottawa.

As the centenarian prepped to board the white Skyvan plane, she slowly pushed her red walker out into the skydiving resort’s hangar.

She took off her light blue cardigan and lifted her black loafers a few inches off the ground one at a time to work her way into a harness.

She declined a jumpsuit but accepted an altimeter.

She left the walker just short of the plane, where two expert instructors helped her up the steps into the hold.

“Let’s go, let’s go, Geronimo!” she said, finally seated.

The plane quickly rose, Hoffner all the while looking calm and confident. She was the only passenger not wearing ear plugs as the propellers loudly buzzed.

When the aft door opened to reveal tan crop fields far below, she and the U.S. Parachute Association-certified instructor tethered to stand.

Hoffner insisted on leading the jump. When she first sky-dived at 100 years old, she was pushed out, she said. This time, she wanted to take charge.

She shuffled toward the edge and leaped into the air.

The plane beat her to the ground. Seven minutes after her jump, she drifted in for her historic landing.

The wind pushed back her white hair. She clung to the harness draped over her narrow shoulders, a look of excitement and wonder spread across her face.

She picked up her legs as the ground approached. And finally, she plopped onto the ground.

The crowd gathered along the skydiving resort’s landing strip roared. Friends rushed to share congratulations.

Someone brought over Hoffner’s red walker. She rose fast, and a reporter asked how it felt to be back on the ground.

“Wonderful,” Hoffner said. “But it was wonderful up there.”

“The whole thing was delightful, wonderful, couldn’t have been better,” she said.

Her mind quickly turned to the future. She might ride in a hot-air balloon next, she said.

“I’ve never been in one of those,” Hoffner said.

The Guinness World Record for oldest skydiver was set in May 2022 by 103-year-old Linnéa Ingegärd Larsson from Sweden.

Hoffner’s record has yet to be certified. The Chicago senior is set to turn 105 in December.

She answered quickly when asked what it feels like to hold the age-based record.

“Like I’m old,” she said.

But the record didn’t seem to interest Hoffner ahead of her attempt to break it.

Before her jump — originally scheduled for early September and delayed three times because of bad weather — her mind was focused instead on the peaceful descent through the sky, she told the Tribune last month.

She first tried skydiving at 100, when her dear friend Joe Conant of Andersonville told her he was planning to sky-dive.

She wanted to join, she told him, because “it sounded interesting.” It became one of her favorite experiences.

“Floating down, it’s so smooth,” she said.

She encouraged everyone to try skydiving and has advice for those who want to give it a try.

“When you’re coming down, make sure you’ve got someone with you. That’s the important thing,” she said.

“I often thought, if I were to do this alone, I would pray when I pulled the parachute cord,” she continued.

“If you pulled it too soon and got caught on the plane, then what would you do when you got caught on the plane? How could they land that plane with you hanging on it?”

The 104-year-old has spent her whole life in Chicago. She was raised in Garfield Park, where she lived for 50 years before moving to Jefferson Park.

She has spent the last decade at the Brookdale Lake View senior living community. She raves about the facility’s three daily meals.

She worked for Illinois Bell throughout her working years, beginning in 1938 as an operator, she said.

She never had any husbands or children — an essential ingredient she in part credits for her long life.

Hoffner, who describes herself as an “unclaimed treasure, never had to deal with the responsibility of kids," she said.

“Or the pettiness and the mess of a husband,” she said. “I never had to take care of anyone but me.”

The biggest secret to her old age and health is her God, who has been very good to her, she said.

“He kept me really going. I can’t say that I’ve ever had any real terrible pain,” she said. “My life has been very dull.”

She wasn’t much of an adventure-seeker for most of her life. For fun, she’d go out for a weekly lunch with two girlfriends.

Sometimes, they’d visit the Garfield Park Conservatory. She traveled too — to England, Panama, Italy twice and France.

She’s filled her life with chosen “grandkids,” including Conant.

The two met when Conant worked as a caretaker for one of Hoffner’s friends.

Though the friend has since died, Conant and Hoffner still talk daily and share dinner every week.

It was Hoffner’s idea to jump again this year, said Conant, who jumped right after Hoffner and landed before her.

She clutched his hand as their plane rose. The wind caught their feet when they leaped from around 13,500 feet and pushed them into a backflip, he said.

“She’s just a great friend,” Conant said on the ground. “I’m incredibly proud of her.”

Hoffner strongly encourages others to sky-dive like her. "It’s surprisingly affordable and so peaceful.”

But she isn’t sure she’ll do it again. She doesn’t know what the future holds, she said.

[teledyn]

Marshall Allen: 100 Solar Returns!

Technically tomorrow but I just couldn't wait! This photo was posted today on IG by Art Yard Records who adds:

The Maestro Marshall Allen celebrates his 🎈arrival day🎈 at home with The Sun Ra Arkestra, born in Louisville Kentucky on May 25th 1924, he has been with The Arkestra since the late 50s as a performer and has been leading the band since 1995.. He is well known for his artistic genius and mastery of the Alto Saxophone with explosive 🧨 ‘experimental’ pyrotechnic solos from another dimension. Marshall is also a composer and conductor, cosmic voyager, alter destiny adventurer, epidemiologist, metaphysics multiverse metaphysician, stargazer and a spiritual tone scientist.🌙💫🌞🔥 🚀 We are truly blessed to have him here with us.🕊

I second that motion!!

[riotclitshave]

Margaret Ann Neve, was born in 1792, and died in 1906 at 110 years old. Making her the only proven person, in recorded history, to live in 3 different centuries.

[spacefacedtragedy]

This is your reminder that the first person to live to 100 was officially a man from the 1600s

Scientists believe the first person to live to 1000 has already been born.

[portablefrailty]

Jimmy Carter is 100.

I don't want to take too much credit but the fact that the president when I was born is the longest lived in history-the first centenarian president, longest tenured president emeritus since leaving office 44 years ago (when I was a toddler)--fits a certain pattern. The reigning Queen of England when I was born also shattered longevity records for her profession. Pope John Paul II was in year 2 of what would turn out to be the third longest papacy (out of 266).

Saddam Hussein took power the year I was born and wouldn't give it up until the year graduated college. That's nothing compared to Fidel Castro, who was 20 years in power in 1979 and held the all the way to 2008--the year I got married.

Fast forward to 2024 and I've now born witness to two papal funerals and one coronation at Westminster. As of 2021 there's no longer a Castro in power in Cuba (baby brother Raul having stepped down finally) but the throne of Saudi Arabia is still being warmed by a son of the first King--who came to power in 1932 (just over 92 years ago).

No presidents died during my life until Nixon in 1994 when I was 15. Tricky Dick was the only living president on the day he left office in 1974 (Truman and LBJ died a month apart in December '72/Jan '73). At the time he died, he was one of five living ex-presidents (with Clinton, the incumbent, marking six living POTii). Nixon, at 81, was the sixth oldest president at the time of his death. His four immediate successors would all break 90. Though only Carter remains of those four, Biden has since passed Nixon's mark. Trump, Clinton and W. are getting close. Obama's got a ways to go but his youthful vigor would seem to presage another long, venerable retirement.

Jimmy made it!

Happy Birthday, Mr. President.

[grrlscientist]

interesting story about Hilda Jaffe, 102yo, who lives alone & completely independently in Hells Kitchen in Manhattan, in good health cognitively & physically. How what's the secret to her longevity?

[indianflash123]

Japan's Centenarian Surge Understanding the Aging Population

[indianflashnews]

Japan's Centenarian Surge Understanding the Aging Population

[news-buzz]

WW2 hero Dorothea Barron on hitting 100 | UK | Information Information Buzz

Few centenarians exhibit as a lot joie de vivre as Dorothea Barron who celebrates her a hundredth birthday at present. The Second World Battle heroine – who lied her manner into the forces – performed a pivotal position within the D-Day landings and has since turn out to be a poster lady for The Best Era.  The indomitable centenarian would possibly solely stand 5ft tall however her fearlessness…