Longevity

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 age 76!

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Veteran Don Mittelstaedt: Still Blooming at 92!

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He’s blind in one eye and has difficulty walking, but World War II photographer Don Mittelstaedt has embraced new technology and become a documentary film producer 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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