By Judie Donaldson

I just read something that was so inspiring that I wanted to share it with you right away. It’s about a French woman who holds the record for the oldest women who’s ever lived. Care to venture a guess about how old she was? C’mon. Take a minute before you continue reading. OK? Ready? Here goes. She lived 122 years! She was born in Arles, France, on Feb. 21, 1875, and died 122 years and 164 days later. Her name was Jeanne Louise Calment.
I found myself wondering what it would be like to live that long, and not surprisingly concluded that it would depend upon my health. I have, as most people would say, good genes. My mother died at 103, and had the good fortune to be reasonably healthy throughout her life. By the time she reached 100, she used a walker and had some memory problems, but she was filled with life. She was an avid reader, knit afghans galore, and was interested in everyone. It seemed that she grew daily in her ability to be loving and at peace. I called her, “My amazing mother.” For good reason.
Jeanne Calment must have been inspiring as well. Imagine this. When she was 90, she entered into a contract to sell her apartment upon her death to Andre Raffray, a 47-year-old lawyer. Raffray agreed to pay Jeanne 2,500 francs monthly until she died. A clever plan, or so he thought. He compensated Jeanne diligently for 30 years, by this time paying far more than the value of her apartment. And guess what happened then. Raffray died! He was 77 when he pre-deceased Jeanne, this man who was close to half her age when they signed their agreement. Clearly, there was no predicting the future when it came to Jeanne Calment.Could this be? It seems inconceivable. I read about it twice to actually grasp it.
Jeanne defied life’s boundaries in many ways. When she was 85, she took up fencing. When she was 100, she was still riding her bike. When she was 114, she starred in a film about her life. At age 115, she had an operation on her hip. At 117, she gave up smoking because she was almost blind and didn’t like asking others to light her cigarettes. It was a big loss. Jeanne had been smoking since 1896. (Those French are tenacious about their pleasures!)
Jeanne retained her mental faculties throughout her years. She had a sense of humor and a thoughtful perspective on her life. On her 120th birthday, when asked what kind of future she anticipated, Jeanne responded, “a very short one.” Then she passed along a series of her life rules. Here are five of them.
1. Always keep your smile. That’s how I explain my long life.
2. I see badly, I hear badly, and I feel bad, but everything’s fine.
3. If you can’t change something, don’t worry about it.
4. I think I will die of laughter.
5. I have legs of iron, but to tell the truth, they’re starting to rust and buckle a bit.
A wise woman, wasn’t she? And quite a role model.
Although we don’t have any centenarians in Carquinez Village, we have five amazing members in the 90s. Two are 95, one is 92 and two are 90. Each one is inspiring. Overall, we have a broad range of ages among our 79 members. Along with the five I’ve mentioned, we have 16 members in their 80s, 40 in their 70s, and 18 in their 60s. We are fortunate to be able to share our life journeys together. Being connected in community is important.
Back to Jeanne. Learning about her fueled my curiosity about centenarians in general. I found that there are 72,000 in the U.S. and 450,000 in the world. They all live in first-world countries. In fact, a significant number live in the U.S. and Japan. Scientists are still attempting to discover the secret of such extreme longevity. Is there a magical “aging gene?” Some believe that scientists are close to finding one. Others argue that longevity is a result of a combination of genes and life style. One important finding is that extreme longevity runs in families.
Who is the oldest person you have known, and what have you learned from him or her? We are emerging from a period where seniors have often been written off as not having very much of value to contribute. But this is changing. Seniors are being increasingly respected for their knowledge and wisdom. We can each contribute to this change by listening to seniors share their life stories. Deep listening is a gift that each of us can give.

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