By 2056, I too look forward to joining the ranks of the centenarians! Over 340,000 100 year-olds+ are currently living throughout the world. The largest number in this age group resides in the U.S. (lucky for us) and Japan. According to the latest census statistics numbers in the U.S, this group will increase from 75,000 to 600,000 centenarians by 2050.

I am fascinated by our oldest elderly, our Super Centenarians. Hitting 115 seems to be the fete. Mid-September, the world’s oldest person passed away. Gertrude Baines was a resident in a convalescent home in Los Angeles since 2001, living on her own up to age 107. Gertrude Baines was a former maid and lived at a time when Jim Crow laws were in effect in Georgia. She was born in 1894 when Grover Cleveland was our President. With Ms. Baines’ passing, Kama Chinen, a 114 year-old woman in Japan now has the title of the oldest person in the world.

Gertrude Noone, age 110, born in 1898 just passed away. She never married. She was the oldest known living military veteran in the world, serving during World War II. She left the Army in 1949 with the distinction of being a sergeant first class and was chief clerk of the dispensary at Ft. Myer, Virginia. In 2002 she moved into an assisted living facility where she participated in exercise and gardening. Gertrude kept her mind active too, reading the daily newspaper and watching CNN. She proudly voted in the November presidential elections, voting for John McCain, mentioning that she thought he might be too old for the position!

If we are to learn from our elders, Ms. Noone never considered herself elderly, thinking she looked 80! She was upbeat, never complained and never gave into age. Ms. Baines credited her longevity to a higher being.

I salute their caregivers who honored these women providing them with dignity in their later years.