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Oldest Person in the World dies
- Thread starter wdlove
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Did anyone ever see that old "Dennis the Menace" where Dennis stumbled on this old guy who'd fought in the civil war?
He was a hermit, and was living in some camp outside of town.
Anyway, they made a big deal about how he fought in the civil war, but it wasn't totally unusual - the way people talk about WWII vets now.
I always thought that was crazy, that there were just thousands of civil war vets walking around the country.
Now, it's hard to find WWI vets - isn't there only a handful left?
Someday, they'll be doing news stories on the last surviving Americans that were alive when the 9/11 attacks happened...
He was a hermit, and was living in some camp outside of town.
Anyway, they made a big deal about how he fought in the civil war, but it wasn't totally unusual - the way people talk about WWII vets now.
I always thought that was crazy, that there were just thousands of civil war vets walking around the country.
Now, it's hard to find WWI vets - isn't there only a handful left?
Someday, they'll be doing news stories on the last surviving Americans that were alive when the 9/11 attacks happened...
SNL had a joke about that (on a rerun) the other night. Tina Fey reported that the oldest person in the world had died and then said something like "Gee, it seems like there's a curse on that title."
Oldest person in the world: Edna Parker. She lives in Indiana and is 114 years and 11 months old. She was born Apr. 20, 1893.
2nd oldest person: Maria de Jesus. She lives in Portugal and is 114 years and 6 months old. She was born September 10, 1893.
Former 3rd oldest person: Arbella Ewing. She died 2 days ago. She lived in Texas and was 114 years and 0 months old. Mrs. Ewing lived on her own until her 113th birthday, when she fell and broke her hip. Earlier this month she blew out all 114 candles on her birthday cake. She was born March 13, 1894 to the grandchildren of slaves.
New 3rd oldest person: Gertrude Baines, who lives in California and was born April 6, 1894. That makes her 113 years and 11 months old. I hope she'll be careful at her birthday party.
2nd oldest person: Maria de Jesus. She lives in Portugal and is 114 years and 6 months old. She was born September 10, 1893.
Former 3rd oldest person: Arbella Ewing. She died 2 days ago. She lived in Texas and was 114 years and 0 months old. Mrs. Ewing lived on her own until her 113th birthday, when she fell and broke her hip. Earlier this month she blew out all 114 candles on her birthday cake. She was born March 13, 1894 to the grandchildren of slaves.
New 3rd oldest person: Gertrude Baines, who lives in California and was born April 6, 1894. That makes her 113 years and 11 months old. I hope she'll be careful at her birthday party.
My father's great aunt who died at 108 was heard by him to say that "the Kaiser reminded her in some ways of Napoleon". It was 1915, my father was five years old, and she was talking from personal experience, having met both the Kaiser and Napoleon.
Those are the things that really bring history into perspective. It reminds me of the persons that started the Civil Rights Movement in the US. They were the children of the first generations NOT born into slavery, their parents being the bridge from slavery to freedom, and established much of the culture wee have today.
Cool!
Kind of the way things work.
Kind of the way things work 2.
Indeed what do you call the formerly oldest person in the world...
The oldest new dead person... ?
This isn't the oldest person, but it's still notable:
Maudie Hopkins of Arkansas died August 17 at age 93. She was the last publicly documented wife of a Confederate soldier! (There are other "undocumented" wives who don't want to be identified.) Hopkins didn't talk about her distinction prior to the last 4 years, explaining "I didn't want to talk about it for a while because I didn't want people to gossip about it."
She was 19 years old in 1934 when she married Confederate soldier William Cantrell, a widower who was 86. It was a marriage of convenience, arranged because he needed a caretaker and they could not live together without being married.
Hopkins was married four times, had three children, and liked to make pies and cakes.
News link
Photo of the couple in 1936 (I'm not sure how long this link will stay available)
Article with photo from 2004
Maudie Hopkins of Arkansas died August 17 at age 93. She was the last publicly documented wife of a Confederate soldier! (There are other "undocumented" wives who don't want to be identified.) Hopkins didn't talk about her distinction prior to the last 4 years, explaining "I didn't want to talk about it for a while because I didn't want people to gossip about it."
She was 19 years old in 1934 when she married Confederate soldier William Cantrell, a widower who was 86. It was a marriage of convenience, arranged because he needed a caretaker and they could not live together without being married.
Hopkins was married four times, had three children, and liked to make pies and cakes.
News link
Photo of the couple in 1936 (I'm not sure how long this link will stay available)
Article with photo from 2004
The manner of decay, violence, disease, poverty, destruction, greed, wrongs, crimes that we are witnessing today are the product of the collective habits of the generations of the past and, to a certain extent, the present.
The sooner the generations of the past disappear, the greater the ease of Mother Earth's recovery.
The sooner the generations of the past disappear, the greater the ease of Mother Earth's recovery.
You realize that's a relative concept? If you kill yourself now my great-grandchildren may have a better existence.
I dunno about marathons, but I've made it a goal to do a 5 mile casually paced jog every morning until I'm to old to do so, then I'll do a 5 mile walk each morning until I croak. Hopefully I'll be able to keep it up, gone good the last couple years!
Thanks to technology, you can use whichever media outlet you'd like to view all sorts of terrible things happening all over the world. Doesn't mean it wasn't happening before you were able to hear about it from halfway around the world. Its just more visible now.
Being a self aware and intelligent creature is a double edged sword!
At some point in the future, the world's oldest person will be able to show us color movies of his or her childhood.
At some point in the future, the world's oldest person will have been an Internet user all his/her life.
At some point in the future, the world's oldest person will have been born after September 10, 2008, which means that the rest of us won't be discussing it in this thread.
At some point in the future, the world's oldest person will have been an Internet user all his/her life.
At some point in the future, the world's oldest person will have been born after September 10, 2008, which means that the rest of us won't be discussing it in this thread.
I believe watching HD movies of days gone by is going to spoil the awe and fascination the past holds for us. Best we enjoy the sensation while we can.