We All Are Growing Older by joan Donaldson-Yarmey

 

https://books2read.com/The-Art-of-Growing-Older

https://bwlpublishing.ca/donaldson-yarmey-joan/

A centenarian is a person who has lived to be 100 years-of-age or more.

       A super centenarian is someone who has lived for 110 years or longer and 90% of the super centenarians are women. One in one thousand centenarians reach the super status but only 2% of them attain the age of 115 years or more.

       According to studies most of the centenarians have many character traits in common. They have been strong, resilient, and optimistic people all their lives and still are. They have a sense of control, are more relaxed, adapt to changes, seldom get angry, and are emotionally stable. They don’t indulge in self-pity.

       Throughout their lives they have dealt with emergencies better than most people and they have coped quickly without much hostility or aggression. Getting their emotions back to normal and accepting everything as part of life have been two survival techniques they have used. They get their life on track again before physical and mental damage can be done, because that is one of the essentials to successful aging.

       Women have a different personality than men and this could be why 80% of all centenarians are women and 75% of those are widowed. Most are living on their own, either alone or with the help of a family member or home care.

       The Guinness Book of World Records has had a category for the oldest person in the world since 1955, which was usually filled by women. It began the separate classification of oldest man in the year 2000.

     Jeanne Louise Calment was the oldest recorded person to have lived. She was born on February 21, 1875 in Arles, France. She died on August 4, 1997 at age 122 years and 164 days. She claimed it was port wine, olive oil, exercise, and a sense of humour that made the difference. She had a brother and sister who died before she was born. Her other brother lived to ninety-seven years. Jeanne’s only child, a daughter died at age thirty-six, and Jeanne’s grandson also only lived to thirty-six.

       *Kane Tanaka of Japan was born on February 21^st 1875 and died April 19^th 2022. She lived for 119 years and 107 days and is the second oldest person ever next to Jeanne Calment. She is the oldest Japanese ever.

       *Sarah Knauss of the United States was born on September 24, 1880 and died December 30, 1999 at the age of 119 years and 97 days. When she celebrated her 119^th birthday her daughter was ninety-five-years-old, her grandson seventy-years-old, great-granddaughter almost fifty, great-great-granddaughter in her late twenties, and her great-great-great-grandson was four.

       One of the reasons for Sarah’s longevity could be explained by one of the staff at the home where she lived. “Sarah has an attitude of live and let go. She has a real serenity. She's also very kind. She's very grateful.”

       *Lucile Randon of France ranks as the fourth longest living person at 118 years and 340 days. She was born on February 11^th, 1904 and died on January 17^th, 2023. She was known as Sister Andre and also has the honour of being the oldest survivor of the Covid pandemic. She tested positive a month before turning 117.

       *Lucy Hannah lived from July 16, 1875 to March 21, 1993. She was 117 years, 248 days old when she passed away. Lucy was the second oldest verified person to have ever lived in the United States and the world’s fifth oldest person to have ever lived. She was never the world's oldest living person because Jeanne Calment was five months old when Lucy was born and Jeanne was still alive when Lucy died.

       *Canadian Marie-Louise Meilleur was born on August 29, 1880, thirteen years after the confederation of Canada on July 1, 1867. She was 117 years, 230 days of age when she died on April 16, 1998. Marie-Louise had ten children and at the time of her death had eighty-five grandchildren, eighty great-grandchildren, fifty-seven great-great-grandchildren and four great-great-great-grandchildren.

       Marie-Louise cited hard work as the reason for her longevity and she did enjoy a glass of wine. She also quit smoking at the age of 90.

       The average time that a person has served as the oldest living person in the world is 525.5 days.

       If these people can live to be over 115 years or even 120 years, why can’t everyone? They prove how long our bodies should work. In my book, The Art of Growing Older: It’s Not Age, It’s Attitude and Ability, I talk about my quest to live as long as possible and what I have done right and what I have done wrong in my journey. The book also points out that everyone should be able to live long and healthy lives.

The Art of Growing Older by Joan Donaldson-Yarmey

 

 

 

 

https://books2read.com/The-Art-of-Growing-Older

https://www.bwlpublishing.ca/donaldson-yarmey-joan/

I am 75 and my husband is 77. In August we headed north, in our motorhome, on a three week trip to Tuktoyaktuk, NWT, Canada, to see the Arctic Ocean. I put my feet in the ocean while my husband dipped his shoe.

Some people think we were too old to have made the trip. I think I am never too old to do anything.

This book tells how I went from thinking 40 was old to realizing that I could do anything at any age. It just takes attitude and ability both of which I have in abundance.

And I am not the only one. My mother was 86 when she went to Europe with my sister and climbed the 251 winding steps of the Leaning Tower of Pisa. I was on a bus tour through Spain, Portugal, and Morocco and one of the other passengers was a 94 year old woman who was with her daughter, son-in-law, and grandson. On one of the walking tours we took we made over 22,000 steps. She kept up with everyone because she had the attitude and ability to do so. Everyone can do the same. Age should not stop anyone from doing anything, because age is just a number. And a number shouldn't rule our lives.

Here is the blurb from the back cover:

After her ninth grade class served tea to a bus load of visiting seniors who were to be the students adopted grandparents for the afternoon, Joan Donaldson-Yarmey decided she didn’t want to grow old and have to be adopted by someone. So at the age of fifteen she resolved that she would end her life when she reached sixty-five.

Over the years, Joan read books, surfed the Internet, and watched documentaries about aging and learned that human beings have the ability to live to be over one hundred years of age and to be healthy and alert while doing it. This book is her journey from that decision at age fifteen to realizing that she didn’t have to grow old, that at a certain age some sick, decrepit person would not step into her shoes and take over her life. She is now in her mid-seventies and so healthy that she never gets any sympathy from her family and friends because she has nothing, health wise, to complain about. She has no illnesses, no aches or pains, and takes no medication, not even ASA or ibuprofen.

Read about Joan’s journey in what she playfully calls her futuristic aging memoir and find out what it is that she believes is her fountain of aging.