Longevity

Mary Granville Delany: An Artist Blooms at 72, Pt. 2

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In Part 1, we left Mary waffling. Patrick Delany, a man she adored but hadn’t seen in 10 years, had just asked her to marry him. Mary was 43 and had been a widow for two decades, not for lack of proposals. Her first marriage at 17, to a gross old drunk she called “my [...]

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Mary Granville Delany: An Artist Blooms at 72, Pt. 1

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“An ingenious mind is never too old to learn.” ~Mary Granville Delany Let me introduce you to this spectacular alien. It’s called pancratium maritimum, sea daffodil. It grows on beaches along the Mediterranean. Examine the the stamen antennae, fluid white petals, deep blue shadow on the rear leaf. (Look here if you want extreme detail.) [...]

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Don Mittelstaedt Makes His Movie — At 92!

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From World War II battlefields to freezing Bering Sea research to Pan Am World Airways glamor, Don Mittelstaedt has shot it all. His life reads like a movie and at age 92, he’s made one!

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Freya Stark: Late Bloomer & Fearless Nomad, Part 2

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Freya Stark has been called “the last of the romantic explorers.” She lived to 100, but didn’t start her adventures until age 35, after many hardships. Part 2 of 2.

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Freya Stark: Late Bloomer & Fearless Nomad, Part 1

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Freya Stark has been called “the last of the romantic explorers.” She lived to 100, but didn’t start her adventures until age 35, after many hardships. Part 1 of 2.

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Grandma Moses: The Importance of Keeping Busy

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“Painting’s not important. The important thing is keeping busy.” Words of wisdom from 101 years of living. Grandma Moses painted to the end, but didn’t start until 76!

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Veteran Don Mittelstaedt: Still Blooming at 92!

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He’s blind in one eye and finds walking difficult, but WWII photographer Don Mittelstaedt embraced new technology and made a documentary at age 92.

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Go Granny! Two Marathon Runners Speed Past 90

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Need inspiration to get off the couch? Guinness World Book just named Gladys Burrill, age 92, the Oldest Female Marathon Finisher.

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Eugenia West Blooms Again

Eugenia West

A late-blooming writer who published her first novel at 56, but didn’t see her second one in print until age 84!

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Lady Jazz! Drummer Jerrie Thill At Age 93

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93-year-old jazz drummer Jerrie Thill has been playing since her teens. Allee Willis (who wrote the “Friends” theme) captures Jerrie’s amazing spirit in a music video.

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Home Girl Wu Ying Crushes Retirement

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Wu Ying lived through Chairman Mao’s Cultural Revolution, when everything Western was banned. At age 64, she became a competitive hip hop dancer!

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Late Bloomers Who Like a Cold Wet Wakeup Call

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What do a conservationist, a kayaker and a cop have in common? I recently noticed that most of the Later Bloomers I’ve been writing about are, well, writers. Which coincides with what I want to do with my own later blooming.  Hmmm . . . So I wanted to profile someone unrelated to my own [...]

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Who Are The Top 10 Late Bloomers of All Time?

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A few weeks ago, Dr. Ira Rosofsky published his Top 10 Late Bloomers of All Time. To qualify, …you can’t simply be a talented, old achiever. Composer Eliot Carter, who started composing as a young man and continues to compose at past the age of 100, doesn’t qualify. Well done, but not a late bloomer. Same goes [...]

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Who Teaches Us How To Be Old?

Donna Marie Webber teaches rollerblading to people over 50 – she’s 51 herself.  Check out her website — it’s full of fabulous instructional videos. In this video, she discusses the conventional view of aging and where it comes from: “When we are young we are taught how to be old when we get older…. I refuse to [...]

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Fittest After 50: More Inspiration

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In the previous installment, I highlighted Clarence Bass and Wendy Ida, two bodybuilders who had gotten their fittest after 50.  Here are some more inspiring folks:  Tosca Reno: Fitness Professional Started bodybuilding in her 40s to cope with a divorce.  After her weight climbed to 204 lbs, she started using a treadmill and lost some, but [...]

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