Do you know a Centenarian?

Muahahaha · 27-03-2020 3:27pm #1

481 people in Ireland passed had their 100 years birthday in 2019. Anyone have a relative who is over 100? Or what age is the oldest person you know, mine is 94.

A review of the presidency and spending at Áras an Úachtraráin for 2019 has revealed details of the Centenarian Bounty, which was first introduced in 1940 by President Douglas Hyde. The review shows that 481 Irish people received the payment from the State last year, with 374 of those people living in Ireland and 107 living overseas.

In 2006, the government to extended the eligibility criteria for the scheme so that all Irish citizens born on the island of Ireland are eligible to apply. Of those 481 Irish citizens who reached 100 years old, 395 were women and 86 were men.

The overall figure is comfortably the highest recorded since the beginning of President Michael D Higgins’ time in Áras and Úachtaráin.

https://www.thejournal.ie/presidency-costs-5034085-Mar2020/

Hello 2D Person Below · 27-03-2020 3:28pm

97 is the oldest person I've met (that I know of).

gazzer · 27-03-2020 3:28pm

My granny is 100 years old.

nthclare · 27-03-2020 3:31pm

There's a lady from the Flaggy Shore in North Clare who's around 103 I think she's outlived most of her children.

arybvtcw0eolkf · 27-03-2020 3:32pm

My great grandmother died at 103 yrs old but other than that I've known no other centenarian.

Trigger Happy · 27-03-2020 3:35pm

When I was a kid there was a centenarian on our street. He was born in the 1880s. Hard to imagine how different his life was to ours.

JohnnyFlash · 27-03-2020 3:36pm

Ya, he disagrees with people on everything.

KrustyUCC · 27-03-2020 3:38pm

Yes

He's 101 now

Wibbs · 27-03-2020 5:14pm

I know three nonagenarians and in my life I've known a few centenarians. All but a few in my family(the men are long lived).

KevRossi · 27-03-2020 5:28pm

Around 1980-2 we had a neigbours aunt who would visit her niece for a few days at a time when she wasn't doing too well. She was born in 1879 and died at 104 in 1983. The mass card was still in a box in our house a few years ago.

Her father survived the famine as a teenager, he was born in 1831 and attended a hedge school, he spoke often to her about it, the starvation, workhouses and people dying in houses with nobody to bury them. I think her mother was born around 1850. Nothing unusual to see a 20 year age gap back then as the men usually married when the mother died and if they had land they had some security. Her Dad had a small shop and pub and used to make poitin.

We got a home computer a few months before she died, it always struck me when learning history that we knew a woman who's Dad went to a hedge school and she saw kids playing with computers. We had her play around with it, so she can say she used a computer.

Also when she was a kid all of her siblings bar one emigrated to the US and Canada, she never saw them again, one of them they never even heard from him again, but when she died she was 6 hours from New York on a 747, or a quick phone call away.

Elemonator · 27-03-2020 5:32pm

I did. He died aged 104. Lovely man. RTÉ did a documentary on him. He said his heart only stopped twice in his life, the death of Michael Collins and the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. That's how long lived he was!

iamstop · 27-03-2020 5:34pm

A lad I know's Gran topped the 100 mark. Got a letter from Mary McAleese I think.

Side note:

Q: What did the octogenarian pirate say?

A: I'm eighty!

uch · 28-03-2020 3:22am

My Aunty Betty is 97, I consider her me Nanny cause my grandparents were all dead before I was born, she still clips her chickens and digs her own spuds, as far as I'm concerned this woman is batmans Ma

28-03-2020 3:39am

It's my Granny's birthday today, 28th March. She is 101 years old. She's been living in a nursing home since last September. I won't get to see her today. The nursing home staff will have tea and birthday cake with her. I hope I see her again.

Better Than Christ · 28-03-2020 4:00am

I met a 103 year old a few months ago. Unbelievably healthy for his age, refuses to use a walking stick because he keeps losing them. Told me he still has all his own teeth (before adding that he leaves them in a jar overnight

).

old_aussie · 28-03-2020 4:05am

My Grandma, Florence Agusta Comans, 102

1880 - 1982

Muahahaha · 28-03-2020 5:04pm

Just heard on the radio that the worlds oldest man is 112 years old today but his party had to be cancelled

AllForIt · 28-03-2020 10:41pm

No. The closest was my Dad's Aunt. She was always as fit as fiddle, and used to show off how she could touch her toes from a upright position at her age which I always found quite endearing. We lived beside her when we were growing up, she was like a grandparent to us.

The last time I saw her was at a visit to her care Home over xmas. She didn't seem in good form, unusually, but in good health. She said she'll never make 'the hundred' that visit. She was right, she was 99 and died a few days later when she fell over in the bathroom in the middle of the night. We had thought she was going to live a few year beyond 100 given she was never sick/hospitalized/had any underlying conditions.

I hope though if I reach 99 I'll stay in good health like she did throughout her whole life and especially in my final aged years like she did.

Woke Hogan · 28-03-2020 10:43pm

My parents are still alive, they're both in their 90s. I don't know anyone aged over 100 though.

L1011 · 28-03-2020 10:47pm

My "great grandmother" (grandmothers step mother) is 102 and her sister is 104. Both are still quite mentally sharp. Both birthdays are yet to come this year so they're closer to 103/105.

The elder sister got dragged around local primary schools in 2016 as someone who was alive during the Rising - not that she can remember the British Army smashing the windows of her mothers pub when she was one!

Muahahaha · 29-03-2020 4:31pm

So for those who know these elders would you say their diet plays a part in their longevity? AFAIK Japan has one of the longest living populations in the world and some put it down to a diet rich in fish

Wibbs · 29-03-2020 4:43pm

The only thing with the ones I know/knew is that they were all thin. Didn't have big appetites. Some drank, some were teetotal, some smoked(most changed to a pipe later in life), some didn't. They walked everywhere. All kept up to date with current affairs and tech and media too.

Your Face · 29-03-2020 6:16pm

I only knew one - my Great-Uncle. Lived to be 103. He was a beast. Death was probably afraid to come for him.

Shady Grady · 29-03-2020 7:10pm

My grandmother lived to 103,and she swore a glass of scotch and a cigarette in the evening attributed to her longevity.
I'm following her advise with a glass of Johnny Walker and a cigar!

Capt'n Midnight · 29-03-2020 8:11pm

Muahahaha wrote: »

So for those who know these elders would you say their diet plays a part in their longevity? AFAIK Japan has one of the longest living populations in the world and some put it down to a diet rich in fish

The Japanese eat very little fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than the British or Americans.
The French eat a lot of fat and also suffer fewer heart attacks than the British or Americans.
The Japanese drink very little red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than the British or Americans.
The Italians drink excessive amounts of red wine and also suffer fewer heart attacks than the British or Americans.
The Germans drink a lot of beer and eat lots of sausages and fats and suffer fewer heart attacks than the British or Americans.

Conclusion: Eat and drink what you like. Speaking English is what kills you.

There seems to be some evidence that taller people die younger, based on basketball players.

And you'll often notice that very old people tend to be shorter :pac:

Muahahaha · 29-03-2020 8:47pm

Maybe part of it is to do with populations who eat whole and non-processed foods? Might be wrong but I would doubt if the concept of the processed ready meal loaded with salt and sugar is popular in France, Italy or Japan.

Shady Grady · 29-03-2020 8:57pm

Muahahaha wrote: »

Maybe part of it is to do with populations who eat whole and non-processed foods? Might be wrong but I would doubt if the concept of the processed ready meal loaded with salt and sugar is popular in France, Italy or Japan.

I would agree about the processed foods. Growing up my mother shopped in China Town, Little Italy, and Greece Street for fresh foods. And most of the elderly were fit well into their 90's.

Now everything is processed or salted to death.

sligeach · 21-11-2020 5:11pm

I don’t know him, but I found it inspirational. If any of us make it to 100, we'll be doing well and very lucky. There's plenty of life in Arthur Saunders, he can't wait for Covid to get lost so he can "go out and have a bit of a jump around and pick up someone" and says he is looking forward to a pint in his local pub. Fair play to him.

Centenarian marks occasion with drive-by birthday party

https://www.rte.ie/news/regional/2020/1120/1179493-birthday-party/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Udi8tGwL77I

https://youtube.com/watch?v=Udi8tGwL77I

Quantum Erasure · 21-11-2020 6:50pm

Áras an Úachtraráin has revealed details of the Centenarian Bounty, which was first introduced in 1940 by President Douglas Hyde

A bounty? That's a bit much, surely...

cdeb · 21-11-2020 6:58pm

I know this fella. His autobiography would be a best-seller but he's too modest to write one. Last met him summer of last year (at a UCD v Finn Harps match) and got a big bear-hug off him just for saying happy birthday. Not many 100 year olds would be well enough to give you a big bear hug!

21-11-2020 7:26pm

I did but he died soon after.

Do you know a Centenarian?

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