The Oldest Person You Have Met/Spoken With.

Back in 2017 I was at a Veterans Appreciation Day sponsored by District 22 of the Sons of the American Legion. Part of the purpose of the Veterans Appreciation Day was to provide an outing for veterans who are residents of nursing facilities or senior communities. During the program attention was focused on Mr. C., a World War II veteran who landed in France 8 days after D-Day and spent the remainder of the war in France. Mr. C.'s birthday was coming up, and when I did the math I realized that Mr. C. was probably significantly older than the average GI. I calculated that at the time he landed in France Mr. C. was 31 years old, being that at his next birthday he was going to be 104 years old.

In subsequent years I looked for Mr. C. but never saw him again. The next year I was told he was sick and eventually the event was stopped because of COVID.
 
Father in law was just shy of 102.He lived in the 19th 20th and 21st centuries.Joined the Army lying about his age in 1939. Tough ol fellow. Walked around the farm,,,rode his 4 wheeler round the farm...visited the widder lady up in the woods the day he died. Raised by his grandfather born 1826 who stole horses from the yankees for Lee's army. I also met an old black man in about 1960. Told me he was born a slave in Virginia in 1857. Mr Wright was his name
 
My great aunt. Born 1859 and died in 1964. Lived in DC and I'd expect one of the few people who met Presidents Lincoln and Kennedy and both Johnsons. Kind of wished I'd have been a bit older when I met her.
 
My old next door neighbor who was 101 when he passed. He was a fighter pilot in the Pacific during WWII and received the Navy Cross for his actions on Guadalcanal. He had been a mail pilot before his military career (he retired as a full Colonel) and his experiences, when he would talk about them, were hard to fathom.

Stu

His Navy Cross citation

The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Navy Cross to Captain John Archibald Thompson, United States Army Air Forces, for extraordinary heroism and distinguished service as Commanding Officer and Pilot of a P-39 fighter airplane in the 67th Fighter Squadron, 58th Fighter Group, FIFTH Air Force, U.S. Army Air Forces, in action against enemy forces at Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands, during the period 27 August 1942 through 25 September 1942. Captain Thompson led his fighter squadron in determined bombing and ground strafing attacks on enemy troops and surface forces, thereby contributing materially to the defense of Henderson Field despite the handicap of primitive operating conditions and shortage of equipment. In particular, on 8 September, with units of his squadron, Captain Thompson covered the withdrawal of our raiding forces to their boats in remarkably successful and complete evacuation operations. Captain Thompson's outstanding courage, daring airmanship and devotion to duty were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.
 
When I was a kid, my school was across the street from a nursing home. As a class we went over fairly regularly for celebrations, like birthdays. There were a number of folks who were 100 or over. I remember a birthday for a 105 year old lady.
 
I have spoken to my friends mother a bunch of times before her passing at 103. She was lucid, had a great sense of humor and "with it" right up until the end. She was a very family oriented woman and enjoyed helping out her family.
 
Every year a group of Sioux Indians come from their reservation to attend and entertain at Cheyenne Frontier Days.
Back when I was 8 or 10 years old, I got talk to the “Chief “ who led the group every year.
I was thrilled to talk to a real Indian. He was an old man even then.

Sixty-five years later I found out his real name and that he had watched Custer’s last stand from a distant hill as boy.

I have been a student of Custer and particularly the last stand from boyhood and even written some stories about it.

Boy, the things we might have talked about if I had known who he really was.
 
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My grandmother, she was born in 1911 and made it to 106 before passing. Unfortunately I never did as much listening as I should have. I did go out to dinner with her several times when she would talk about taking a boat from the US to Europe on vacations. That was where she found her love for caviar.

When my parents passed (many years short of my grandmother unfortunately) I got many of the family photos. Looking at all of the photos have been an extraordinary trip back in time. I wish I had seen them sooner and been able to ask her questions about them.

Before my mother passed, we had been doing some research into a family relative on her side of the family. He was a Colonel during the civil war and the youngest officer to get killed at Gettysburg. The things we take for granted.
 
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There are those doctors who believe with all present and expected future advances in medicine and technology, many humans who will live to age 150 have already been born. I'm not sure that is such a good idea.

But back in the Middle Ages, anyone who made it to age 35 was considered old.
 
My wife had a good friend make it too 103. Cool old girl that kept her mind and humor to the end.

My grandmother passed as a young woman of 94, but she saw a lot of life.
She had five husbands and outlived them all. Her and her first husband were on the Oklahoma land rush. She had eleven kids, with three of her husbands, with my Dad being the youngest. He was born an uncle. His Dad, my namesake, died in 1919 of the Spanish flu. She had a boyfriend when she passed.
 
I had a patient last week for an MRI who is 98, she told me about her sister who is 103. I have had several patients over 100. Got to do a CXR a few yrs ago on a gentleman who fought in the Battle of the Bulge. Don't remember his age, but it was an honor to meet and talk to him.



I have a daughter who was born in 1999. I told her if she makes it over a 100 yo she will have lived in three different centuries.
 
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