My wifes grandmother died last night. 105 years old.
Until a few days back she was sharp as a tack. Almost all her functions were good. Her hearing and eye sight were fading, she walked a bit slower than she did at 100.
After her last husband died, which I think when she was in her 60s, she lived alone. Everyday she’d walk the three flights of stairs up to her condo.
When she got to be about 100 her family thought an assisted living home might be good for her. Grandma finally agreed. A few months later grandma wanted to leave. Reason? Too many old people.
She got a new apartment and lived there for another year or two. By the time she was 102 she was back in the assisted living home.
At 104 she was told she should start using a walker. That didn’t go over very well. Last I heard the staff at the home were still hounding her to use it.
She has three daughters - now all around 80. It was great to see these three old 80 year old women bickering and grandma telling “the girls” to keep it down.
Sadly, I was never very close to her. She lived too far away to spend much time together. But I always enjoyed talks with grandma about the days before television and airplanes.
I could run on but this thread is not about me. I know what it feels like to say the least. At 105 you sure have had a good run. There is alot to be proud of in such a woman. Rest in peace.
That’s exactly the reason my father’s mom refused to go to an old folks’ home for as long as she was able to keep her own house. One day she announced she was moving to an old folks’ home; her children said something along the lines of “oh we need to do the paperwork” and she indignantly told them “I haven’t said I want to, I said I’m doing it! I’ve alredy done the paperwork to go to the one where I have several friends and they called me this morning to say there’s an opening. I’m going there cos I’be been getting the dizzies, not the ditzies!”
Well, if she WAS a witch, she certainly wasn’t a very good one. It’s not like it’s that hard to keep yourself alive for centuries by stealing the life force of unsuspecting people.
Good way to live, good way to die. Well done, Hazel.
If you don’t mind, can I pay tribute to my own GM, a mere child of 89? We only know where she is when we get the postcards from Spain, or Mexico or rafting down the Misissippi (she has this thing about Lewis and Clark).
I can only hope she does as well as Hazel.
I’d say Rest in Peace, but she seems to feisty to rest for long. Probably be out haunting people just for her own amusment.
105? Maybe I should think about topping up my pension…
She must have seen a LOT during those years.
On a similar thread a while back, I pondered as to how many people are still alive who were born in the 1800s. There really can’t be that many by now. I might just ask that over in GQ…
My great grandmother died at 107. At 101 she was living by herself and we had been trying to convince her to stop going up to the second story of her house. She slipped coming down the stairs and broke her hip. She spent the rest of her life in a nursing home.
She was 106 the last time I talked to her and still had her mind. The coolest thing was that she remembered being 16 when the Wright bros made their first flight.
Alright others are sharing their own stories so I’ll share mine, but not without first paying all due respect to Hazel.
My grandmother lived to 105. She died in 2001. I think one thing centenarians have in common is that they are all unique. My grandmother didn’t get married until she was 40. She had my dad when she was 42 (I might not be doing all the math right but that’s not the point.) The point is that this was in the 1930’s. She was 10 years older than her husband. By all rights in those days she should have been a spinster. She never gave up.
Then in 1988 her and her husband got hit by a car while walking accross the street. Her husband didn’t make it. She was seriously beat up. After months of rehabilitation she still recovered to live on her own for a few more years.
Thank you for giving me the opprotunity to share. Never give up.
I volunteer at the Audio Reading Service at Orlando’s public radio station. We read newspapers for the visually impaired, who can listen over special radios, or a cable TV station. On my shift, we read from the Orlando Sentinel, including obituaries. It’s hard to forget someone dying at 105.
My condolences to you, but my kudos to your grandmother. Sounds like a hell of a lady.