Who were the oldest people you have known personally?

[Kaleva]

For me, that would have been my great-grandparents of whom I knew 3. They were old when I was a young boy back in the 1960's and my guess is that they were born in the 1880s. One great grandmother lived to be a 101 and she died sometime in the 1980s.

The oldest person I know now is my ex's grandmother who is 94 and she was born in 1919.

[bamademo]

1. My great Grandma who was 100...She scared the hell outa me.

She had a wooden chair she would scoot down the hall and it squeaked. I ran from her and cried.

[struggle4progress]

2. My dad will be 95 soon. I honestly don't know whether he's the oldest person I've met or not.

He's doing OK: my mom and he drove a 2500 mile road trip over the holidays

[elleng]

3. Dad passed at 98.

Mother of high school classmate just turned 100. Haven't seen her since h.s.

[WinkyDink]

4. My mother, who is 89.

[dixiegrrrrl]

5. When you say.."know", how do you mean that?

As in know well? Like family?
or casually?

The oldest person I know..casually...is Harper Lee's sister, Alice Lee. She is 102 now, and in a retirement center.
Last time I saw her, she was celebrating her 100th birthday with another friend of hers, who was also 100.
The town had made a big news story about it, and later she was at my neighbour's house, so I got to wish her happy birthday.
I would love it if she wrote her memoirs.

[Scuba]

50. Biblical sense. Now whattya have to say?

[OriginalGeek]

6. My grandpa will be 93 in May

I knew my great Grandmother but I don't know how old she was. All I remember is her telling me not to roll around on the ottoman as I might bust my lip open.

I continued to roll around on the ottoman and did not bust my lip open. Score!

[Jenoch]

7. I never knew any of my great-grandparents.

My maternal great-grandfather died from an ingrown toenail in 1932. It got infected and there was no antibiotic. My paternal great-grandparents were murdered by Stalin in the 1933 famine.

I knew a guy in my hometown who died at 101. He was vibrant and active until just a few months before he died. He had never been hospitalized prior to that time.

[Kaleva]

8. There were some communists here where I live who emigrated to the Soviet Union..

back in the 1930s and they were never heard from again.

"Approximately ten thousand Finns returned from the New World, not to Finland but to the Soviet Union, in the 1920s and the 1930s to "build socialism" in the Karelian ASSR. This took place mainly for ideological reasons, and was strongly supported by the political elite of the USSR. However as the political climate changed and ethnic republics were seen as a threat to the future of the USSR, many of these immigrants were killed in the so-called Stalin's Purges in 1935-1938.[2]"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finnish_American

[murielm99]

9. There was a Democrat in my precinct who lived to be 103.

She was one of my favorite library patrons, too, when I worked there. She was always dressed in her best for her library visit every two weeks.

She stopped driving to the library when she turned 95. She walked after that!

She went to live in the nursing home here when she turned 100. She was tall, with perfect posture, showing no signs of osteoporosis, the way so many older women do.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

10. My maternal grandmother lived to be 100

and her mother, who died when I was 20, was born in 1880. My grandmother's father, who died when I was 13, was born in 1870, so I guess he is the "earliest" person I knew.

My grandmother's best friend died last year at the age of 103.

[deerheadgal]

11. A 106-year-old who lived next door to my in-laws

She saw Halley's Comet twice--once as an 8 year-old and again as a Senior Citizen. Loved Bloody Marys, detective stories and conservative talk radio. She would listen to the latter late into the night--some station in Denver. Used to argue with my MIL (a Roosevelt Democrat) over politics. The two would part, spitting mad at each other, only to meet the next day for coffee, friends again. She was a widow--her husband had died at the age of 63. By the close of her life, she had lost her family and many dear friends, including my in-laws, and was lonely for conversation with people from her generation, but stayed active, interested in life and always fun to visit. Still, at the end, she was ready to leave. She dreaded a lingering illness, and got her wish, just slipping away in her sleep. "There's worse things in life than dyin'," she told my husband on her 102nd birthday. A life lived long and well.

[First Speaker]

12. A great-great uncle I met as a little boy saw Abraham Lincoln...

...that was 1960...I was seven, and he was 102, which was as far as he got. Also--when *he* was a little boy, he talked to an aged family member who had been an eyewitness to the battle of Concord in 1775...how cool is *that*? American history really isn't all that long...

[anasv]

15. First Speaker: envy

[Arugula Latte]

29. That kind of time-travel stuff is amazing.

[malthaussen]

39. Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr...

... knew both John Quincy Adams and Algar Hiss. Which covered a good chunk of American history when I learned that, but it's 50 years later now.

-- Mal

[applegrove]

13. My grandmother lived to be 103.

[mokawanis]

14. I provided care for a patient who was 101

He was the oldest person I've known. The oldest living person I know personally is my mother, who just turned 79.

[anasv]

16. wait, I'm seventy. Does that mean I'm old?

[mokawanis]

25. My definition of old keeps changing

20 years ago i would have said the age I am now is old, but I don't feel old at 55.

[Jokerman]

17. My uncle died last summer just short of his 100th birthday.

I also had a great-aunt who lived to be 102 but I barely remember her.

[TBF]

18. Several grandparents into their mid to late 80s -

My grandfather and my FIL are both 87 now I believe - grandmother is 86. I don't know if we've had anyone in my family make it to 90. That would be a good question for my mom.

[greatauntoftriplets]

19. A neighbor who lived to be 104.

On edit: I have cousins who are currently 96 and 97.

[livetohike]

21. My Grandma who died in 1992 and was 92 years old. My husband's Aunt is 92, so I guess she is the

oldest person that I know.

[DebJ]

22. My great-great grandmother who was born in 1871.

I'm the little girl in this five-generation picture. Dad is in the back.
I am sitting on his mother's lap. On the far right is my grandmom's mother, my great grandma,
and next to her is her mother, my great-great grandma Eva Marie Use (Uzee, Usa, Usea, etc) Marlbrough,
born in 1871. She was Cajun, never spoke a word of English, and was not literate. Neither
was her husband Frejus Pierre (Fergus Peter) Marlbrough (also spelled many ways translating
from Cajun to English). They lived in and off of Blue Bayou in the New Orleans, Lousiana
area. This photo was published in the New Orleans Times Picayune because 5 generations
are rare to find in photos. It was possible for us, in part, because my grandma married
at 14 and her mother married at 12. Eva was a relative old maid when she married at 23.
Picture was taken in the late 1950s.

[Kaleva]

23. Married at age 12! Wow.

My great grand parents didn't know any English either even though they lived here in the States for several decades.

Edit: Great pic. It is very rare to see 5 generations! Thanks for posting it.

[Aristus]

24. My great-grand aunt. The matriarch of my Southern family.

She was 104 at our family reunion in Stone Mountain, Georgia in 1993. She died a year or so later.

[MissB]

26. 106 yo neighbor that was still living in her own home.

She was incredibly alert (and funny) at the last neighborhood potluck she attended. She died about a year ago.

She still ran her own business out of her house too. The folks across the street checked in on her daily. She had issues with walking - she was pretty slow and needed a hand- but she was relatively spry.

I figure she struck the social security jackpot by outliving so many folks.

[UTUSN]

27. Currently I have an uncle 102 & an aunt (-in-law) 101, an aunt 96 or something and

just lost a 98 yr old and an 84 yr old. However, I'm gasping, myself.

[wyldwolf]

28. My step grandparents-in-law

The parents of my wife's step father.

Both lived well into their 90s.

My grandmothers - both lived into their late 80s.

[laundry_queen]

30. My grandfather who lived to be 102.

Although I think my other grandfather should get an honorable mention for living to age 97 while being a smoker, obese and an alcoholic. Although, he did lose weight and stop drinking in his last few years. He smoked since he was 11 years old. I think it's impressive he lived so long.

My grandfather who lived to be 102 was also a smoker, but he smoked a pipe and for most of his life grew his own tobacco. So, maybe not as bad as cigarettes.

At any rate, I have some good genes!

[mysuzuki2]

31. my great aunt who lived with us when i was a kid.

She was born in 1861 and lived to be just shy of 100. She used to tell stories about when she was a little girl and her father came home from fighting the rebs.

[Arugula Latte]

41. Wow, that is incredible.

[Squinch]

32. My next door neighbor is 100 this year. Still lives in her own home, though she has help.

[benld74]

33. Two ladies who were friends of my parents, both 91. Visited them over Xmas,,,,

very special ladies.

[Sognefjord]

34. Hannah Thompson, mother of one of our next door neighbors. Born in 1872.

Nora and Tosten Thompson (No relation to Hannah) born 1873, 1874. I used to mow their lawn in the 1950's. My dad is now 92 and my aunt Janice will be 94 in a few weeks.

[Texasgal]

35. My husbands uncle who died a few years ago

was 102 when he passed away. What an amazing guy! Told me his longevity was due to drinking ONE beer a day! LOL!

He was awesome and had so many stories to tell, he worked as a bagger at the local grocery store ( small town just east of here) for 65 years. He didn't have much, his little a-frame house was falling down around him... his wife passed 15 years ago. He loved his little house and the feral cats he would feed. He had a small garden patch in the back of his house and loved to tend to it. He made homemade tortillas everyday and threw out the extras for the birds and wild life. His children and and great grand children lived near by and would help care for him. He refused a nursing home.

I absolutely adored this man! I was sad but okay when he died. 102 is an amazing and long life.

[cliffordu]

36. Grantcart.

[tabbycat31]

37. great grandparents

They all lived to be 86 (which is the age my grandfather just passed away at so it seems to be the age in my family). They were born in 1900 1909 and 1912.

I barely knew Granny Franny (1900) because I was very young (6) when she died. I've seen pictures of me with her but I don't remember her much at all.

The oldest person I know now is my paternal grandfather (89). He was born in 1924.

[a la izquierda]

38. My great grandmothers...

They were 97 and 98 respectively, one on each side of the family.

[dinger130]

40. My paternal grandmother who died in 1976.

She was 101. She used to tell me to be sure and turn the lanterns on my car when I left her home at night.

Quoted tons of poetry.

[Avalux]

42. My grandmother is soon-to-be 93, born in 1921.

She had two aunts that lived into their 100s, I remember she said one of them was born in 1886. They lived in Florida together after their husbands passed and would take road trips to PA well into their 90s.

[NewJeffCT]

43. My maternal grandmother

died the day before her 99th birthday. When she turned 90 and she blew out the candles on her cake, she announced she wanted to live until she was 98... and, she lived every day of her 98th year.

[Arcanetrance]

44. My great grandparents who died at 100 and 101

[Deep13]

45. Great grandmother. d. in 1998 at age 98.

She was born in 1899.

Another woman I knew just died too. She was also 98 and was the oldest student in the university history dept. and probably the whole school. I last saw her in class a year ago.

[Kaleva]

46. She probably was the oldest student in the entire history of the school!

[whistler162]

47. My great grandfather(fathers side) and

my grandmother(mothers side) both lived into their 90's. Knew them both.

[YoungDemCA]

48. My great-grandfather, who died in 1997 at the age of 96...

nt

[Ikonoklast]

49. My great-grandmother, who emigrated to this country from Sicily. She died at 103 years of age.

She gave up mowing the lawn with a push mower when she turned 100, she said it was time for someone else to do it.


So her daughter, my great aunt, aged 88, took over for her.


I loved that woman, she used to trip us kids with her cane when we would tear around her house.

"You watcha you ass, I smack you in the head!" but she loved all of us kids.

Grandma Badali was a hoot, sharp as a tack, cheated at cards, and could cook like no one's business.

I miss her to this very day.

[Brigid]

51. I would have loved to meet Grandma Badali!

[Boomerproud]

52. My Great-Aunt Mary

who lived to be 106. She was a spitfire too.