Tag Archives: Century mark

The Road to Diamond, Day 355: Nonagenarian Beacon

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Posted by on in collaborating, Community, Family, Personal goals, Personal Values, Service Activities, Social, Spiritual, Striving

November 17, 2025- All three ladies are using walkers, but all three are sharp upstairs and let no one forget it. This was made clear by the way none of them repeated the stories they told at the beginning of Coffee Klatsch, this morning, and for that matter, none has repeated stories they told two weeks, or two months, ago. One put it simply: “Who wants to hear the same old crap? Life goes on, and so do I.” That statement is like a beacon, in the night that, for many, is the process of aging.

The three ladies in question are 94,92 and 91, respectively. I can remember when someone close to me told my mother that her “old, decrepit son” (me) was there to visit. Mom’s reply: “Are you saying old is decrepit?” Her leg went out in a kick, as she always did when someone had irked her. Dignity and self-regard die hard in a person who has all, or most, of faculties into the “higher elevations”. Mom’s idol was Dick Van Dyke and she told me to look to him as a model for how to move gracefully towards century-hood. Indeed, he has a new book out, called “100 Rules for Living to 100: An Optimist’s Guide to a Happy Life”. This is a man who has not stopped moving-and that, he says, is his secret.

So, I went back and exercised at Planet Fitness and showed up at the Monday night Soup Kitchen, where I may stand and serve food for thirty minutes-but then go around and clean all the tables, so it is not a “passive volunteer” activity. With grandchild being my prime motive for moving to Texas, just before Christmas, I don’t think there will be any room for passivity there, either.

Day of the Dead

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Posted by on in Community, Family, Historical, Personal Values, Spiritual

November 2, 2017, Prescott-

Hispanic families, in Mexico and elsewhere, observe this day as a way to honour their departed ancestors and strengthen the ties between this world and the hereafter.

As I looked out the window, this morning, I swear I could see Penny’s image, and that of her father, looking back at me, in a tree across the way.

Some have gone on, this past year, who had roles, large and small, in my life.

Uncle George Boivin, one of my last surviving father figures, gave me a paving stone from Boston’s old Scollay Square, which was transformed into Government Center, when I was about 12.  He was ever available, when I was in Colorado, to set me straight, in the difficult  2 1/2 years, immediately following Penny’s passing.  His mind was sharp, until the end, and those doll houses live on.

Al Tercero served our American Legion, at the post and district level, for over 30 years.  Now he is in what we call Post Everlasting.  The Honour Guard he helped establish is still the finest in Arizona.

George Marchessault, also a Past Commander and Honour Guard stalwart, stayed true to the Legion code and was ever present at our gatherings, on almost a weekly basis, until his last illness confined him to rest.

Bea Cronin, a grand-aunt’s sister-in-law, was always outside watching the Saugus High football team, from her back yard. There was an open door and welcome to the kids who knew her sons, and to us, her far extended family, when we were in the neighbourhood.

Ivaloo Mac Vicar was always in the hall, when I was passing to classes in seventh grade, admonishing us boys to WALK down the stairs, ONE step at a time.  She made it to the Century Mark, and a bit beyond, as did-

Evelyn Porter Anderson, who gave my mother a shot at success as a hairdresser and cosmetologist, in the uncertain days after World War II.  She never stopped doting on the five of us, until blindness and infirmity kept her confined to her last home.

Bernis Hanlon taught me, in fifth grade, to rely on my own wits and to start building  layers on my thin skin.  It took twenty more years for that lesson to really stick, yet less time for her next life lesson, appreciation of fine drama, to be absorbed, six years later, when she was the  High School Theater Advisor, who didn’t mind my being on the periphery of that club’s efforts.

Firuz Kazemzadeh was a high-level scholar of the Baha’i Faith, and one of our most accomplished mentors, serving in so many capacities, legal and educational.  His was always a bright and friendly face, at national and international gatherings, as well as at “our own” Grand Canyon Baha’i Conference, held annually in Phoenix.

So many others have come and gone- and some day a person or two will write of my time on this Earth.  There is much to do, as yet, so let it not be too soon.

 

Centenarians

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Posted by on in Social

I read a piece in Yahoo! yesterday, about a 100-year-old woman who met her natural daughter only six years ago.  The daughter is now 77.  This seems to be a very positive, life-affirming event, for both women, and for their families.

This is one of the many anomalies that have arisen, and will continue to arise, as more and more people reach the century mark.  If you aspire to attain Methuselah status, what are your plans for such an event, and, more importantly, for the time afterward? Some, like George Burns and Bob Hope, just barely crossed the finish line and made it their last race.  Others, like all those who become the Oldest Man/Oldest Woman in the World, or like Frank Buckles and Claude Choules, the two last surviving combat veterans of World War I, (both of whom died last year),have plans for staying in the game and achieving real goals.

If I am so indulged, I want to leave this all behind with my hips swinging and my arms outstretched, in embrace of all that life has to offer, and with an appreciation for what this life has taught me.  As my Penny said, “I want to die with my boots on.”  She did so, when it was her time, though far from the century mark.  I wouldn’t mind going the distance, since her spirit is always around, and I have this thirst for achievement and experience.