3. The First Step
Meet with someone about copyrights, privacy laws, donations, costs.
(Week of January 16th)
PLAN
Meet with seniors of Ogden and record their stories (10-15).
(Beginning 1/18 and continuing until done – approx. 2 months
for interviews, revisions, and printing)
Type stories then review with author for errors, additions, etc.
Include favorite quotes and other tidbits.
Possibly include “senior facts” for public awareness.
Arrange entries, print, bind.
Each contributor will receive a copy of the bound works the remaining copies
will be donated to local churches, senior homes, dentist/doctor offices, etc.
(Approx. 2 weeks for distribution)
5. World's Oldest People
What’s the secret to a long life? Ask these 10
‘supercentenarians’
By Miriam Weiner
March 9, 2012
(only U.S. born are listed here)*
1. Besse Cooper (Born August 26, 1896)
On Jan. 31, 2011, Besse Cooper was entered into the Guinness
Book of World Records as the oldest living person on earth.
Cooper (née Besse Berry Brown) was born on August 26, 1896, in
Sullivan County, Tenn., and moved to Between, Ga., in 1917 at age
21. It was here that she married Luther Cooper and raised four
children. With the death of 113-year-old Beatrice Farve on Jan. 19,
2009, Cooper became the oldest resident in Georgia, and two years
later, she nabbed the world record. August 26 will mark her 116th
birthday.
6. 4. Leila Denmark (Born February 1, 1898)
Until she retired in May 2001, Leila Alice Denmark (born Leila
Daughtry) was the oldest-practicing pediatrician in the world,
working at the Henrietta Eggleston Hospital on Atlanta's Emory
University campus until she was 103 years old. Denmark's medical
career is impressive:
She was the third woman to graduate with a doctor of medicine
degree from the Medical College of Georgia, and she codeveloped
the pertussis (whooping cough) vaccine.
Denmark has a lot of advice for aspiring supercentenarians. For
example, she strongly objects to junk food and sweets (she has
refused birthday cake several times because of the sugar content)
and recommends drinking only water.
Denmark also says a sense of humor is key to a long life, and she
should know: She celebrated her 114th birthday in February.
7. 8. Mamie Rearden (Born Sept. 7, 1898)
Mamie Rearden (née Mamie Julia Lewis) is the oldest living
black person in the world. She was born in Edgefield County,
S.C., in 1898, where she still lives today. After earning her
teaching certificate in 1918, Rearden married her husband,
Ocay, and they [had] 11 children. She resides with two of her
kids—her son, David, and her daughter, Martha—and remains
in good health, having celebrated her 113th birthday in
September.
Her longevity secret? "Always treat others as you want to be
treated. Tend to your own business and live a good, clean life
and the Lord will bless you," Rearden told the Augusta
Chronicle last year.
8. “Controversial South African leader and political activist Nelson Mandela
is proof that life doesn't end in the senior years.
Mandela was released from prison at the age of 72. Rather than rest
and enjoy his golden years, he returned to the political and activism
arena, earning the Nobel Prize at the age of 75 and becoming president
of South Africa at 76. At age 80, he was married for the third time.”
9. "Youth is not a time of life; it is a state of
mind; it is not a matter of rosy cheeks, red lips
and supple knees; it is a matter of the will, a
quality of the imagination, a vigor of the
emotions; it is the freshness of the deep
springs of life . . . ."
-Samuel Ullman, age 70+
“Our society must make it right and possible
for old people not to fear the young or be
deserted by them, for the test of a civilization
is the way that it cares for its helpless
members.”
-Pearl S. Buck
11. Senior citizens are old people who are important
to the country. Age 50-80. Sometimes they are
grumpy, but sometimes they are nice. They are
good to have so we should treat them nicely,
special, and respect them.
Shelby, Amelia, and Emily ages 8 & 10
Senior citizens are people like my Grandpa. They
don’t work anymore, but like to fix things around
the house. People should be nice to them because
they give you candy.
Sebastian age 6
Senior citizens are old people that did their job and
get to take long vacations.
Caroline age 7
12. And the voice of strong senior
citizens who most definitely are
NOT a burden to society…
13. I AM
A Christian
A woman
A mother
A grandmother
A sister
A friend
A cancer survivor
A college student
An artist
A life survivor
Divorced
Single but not alone
A golfer
An employee
A homeowner
Alive
A senior citizen
-Jan Pollard
14. For five years, my family and I lived in
Montgomery, Alabama, and I became close
friends with many people there and
throughout the area: in Selma, Highland
Home, Prattville, Magnolia, Wetumpka, and
Alexander City. Children there were taught to
respect, listen to, and care for senior
citizens, even those who had no position or
influence in society. That mindset simply
seemed to be an integral part of Southern
culture and life. I've lived in only one other
place in the world where seniors were treated
with more respect, and that was in the villages
near Seoul, in The Republic of Korea, a society
that even practices ancestor worship.
15. With the aging of the so-called Baby Boomers, society must confront a
situation perhaps unlike any other in American history. Ever-increasing life
expectancy means that as time passes further into the Twenty-first
Century more people over the age of sixty-five, long the presumed age of
retirement, will dominate the demographic landscape. Unlike people
in traditional Asian cultures, Americans tend to think of elderly people as
someone else's problem, an attitude that cultivates indifference. We
either assume that their pensions and Social Security will cover them until
they fade away in some retirement community in Florida or Arizona, or we
warehouse them in nursing homes. This perspective may require
considerable adjustment as the burdens of supporting so many senior
citizens become heavier. The likelihood that this will result in more
resentment than indifference toward older people grows with every
passing year. The inability or unwillingness of the politicians for deal with
the inevitable collapse of Social Security dictates that within a few years,
literally millions of Americans will not have the means to take care of
themselves. When those days come, younger citizens will have a massive
problem on their hands. Perhaps the author of Soylent Green foresaw
better than anyone a possible result, a time when society will decide to
euthanize those who cannot take care of themselves.
Dr. Gene Sessions, History professor at Weber State University
16. I see Critical Theory applying to this situation. Society continues to strive for wealth and
those who are the most captivated by being wealthy become resentful of those whom―don’t
contribute‖ and ―sponge off the government.‖ Since the money is coming from the
government, those in power (government) are quick to draw attention to how many seniors
are using government services – and how much the government could save by cutting or
reducing the budget for these programs.
One misconception concerning senior citizens is that they are no longer a contributing part
of society – either monetarily or socially. Another misconception is, for those that are not
able to contribute due to poor health, disease (Alzheimer’s, etc.) or other uncontrollable
reason, that these members of society have ―had their day in the sun,‖ they’ve lived their
lives and no longer require or deserve to be treated as the current (and ruling) class in
society – the younger generation.
There can be a solution to this disconcerting view:
First, those in power (the government) need to stop using programs that benefit seniors
as their main focus for decreasing the debt of the nation.
Second, as the police manage minimal criminals, so it should be with seniors.
Small steps (like the project I’m working on) to reintroduce seniors into society and
validate them as a group that is still beneficial, may, over time, reduce the spread of the
applied stigma.
17. References:
http://seniors.lovetoknow.com/Slideshow:Famous_Se
nior_Citizens~1
http://health.usnews.com/health-news/living-well-
usn/articles/2012/03/09/worlds-oldest-people
http://www.alabamamoments.state.al.us/sec31det.htm
l
http://www.voice4india.org/2009/08/28/quotes-
ageing-elders-senior-citizens/
