…the oldest person on Earth verified by the Guinness Book of World Records was born. Now she’s in the news because she died a couple of days ago. Eunice Sanborn of Jacksonville, Texas, died quietly in her home on Monday. The obituary cited a birth date of July 20, 1895, but her family says her age is uncertain. My Grandfather , Damon E Grim, was born July 18, 1895.Read about Eunice Sanborn and see a video on CNN here. To think she was born two days after my Grandfather really makes me think. A generation is pretty big, time-wise. A parent and their child can span a hundred years easily. I wonder if Eunice and my Grandfather ever crossed paths. Maybe they actually met.
Of all my relatives, my Grandfather was my favorite, and the person I always wanted to be like the most.
I get kind of sentimental about it really, a person lives, and a person dies. But when a person dies, people still remember them. After a time, everyone who actually remembers a person dies. 1895 seems like a long time ago, but I remember my Grandfather. He died in 1976. If I could go back in time, I would ask him a whole bunch of questions, and take notes.
I think humans need to focus less on who dies, and more who is still alive. I remember years ago, hearing about an old man who died who was instrumental in inventing the internal combustion engine. I thought, “I wish I knew he was still alive before he died” Does that make sense?
With Eunice Sanborn’s death, the “oldest living person” designation goes to Besse Cooper of Monroe, Georgia. She was born in 1896
Wow…I can totally relate. I wished I had talked with my grandpa and grammy more, especially about marriage. They were sweethearts since high school and still held hands and had the perfect marriage when my grandmother died 60 years later. They had the perfect marriage, and I sure would like to know the secrets of that. Lol.
I'm in 100% agreement about we NEED to be more concerned about the wealth of information our elderly generations offer us. Looking back most of my dear friends are 60+ yrs old or older. Even though I'm only in my mid 40's I just feel more comfortable with their age group, I can relate to them farm better and learn a wealth of information at the same time.I'm always saddened when an elderly person dies, knowing that they had so much information to share and give yet so few take the time to even talk with them.My Grandma( my Dad's Mom) is 94yrs old and my first and best penpal!
Isn't she cute!! My great Granddaddy lived to be 99 and my daddy's mom, my Gramma O'B lived to be 98 and was pretty plucky and still mindfull. I wonder if it's worth it to live that long. I think only if your healthy for the most part…With the Baby Boomers hitting 60+ we really need to be aware of who's who. We had some really Interesting inventors, authors…etc…in our generation!! …debbie
Interesting post Mark. I lost both my grandfathers years ago… my paternal grandfather was instrumental in building a lot of the hydro electric dams here in New Zealand… talking to him about them now would be great.