Born in 1895, Audrey Stubbart (in 1995!) warmly recounts, in the U.S. News & World Report article you can read by clicking here, the love of her parents and three siblings; encounters with Sioux Indians on the plains of Nebraska not long after the historic Battle of Wounded Knee; her marriage at age 15 to John Stubbart, who, in her own words, "was the handsomest fellow I'd ever seen"; her early life on the rugged Wyoming prairie; her devotion to her religious beliefs--she still teaches Sunday School; her disdain for the ageism that encourages "building houses to store our old folks"; and her current (40-hour per week!!) job as columnist and proofreader for The Examiner in Independence, MO. (Photo © 1995 Kevin Horan)

It is no small wonder that this hardy, pleasant person ended up living in Independence, Missouri. For she is the exemplar of the independent person we all want to be to the end. And since Missouri is the "Show Me" state, Audrey Stubbart is showing us that being 100 doesn't matter as much as mattering--still doing, performing, enjoying, sharing, contributing. I know that you share our hope that Audrey will still be writing for us as we enter the next century, the 3rd one for her!

Recently, I wanted to find out if Audrey had perhaps made it to the mark of being a "supercentenarian," a designation demographers give to those who attain the age of 110.* She had not: she only made it to 105! 

Here's what Barbara Magerl of the Kansas City Public Library wrote about Audrey: "In May 2000, she fell at her home. A month later she went directly from the hospital to the Examiner celebration for her 105th birthday. She retired in August and passed away November 14." Just so the reader shouldn't be too sad about hearing that Audrey finally died, consider that she lived one of the longest lives ever and lived it so very well. According to Ms. Magerl, "Her life wasn't all work, however. At 88 she visited the Holy Land and rode a camel in Egypt. At 94 she toured England and Scotland. Her motto was "learn something every day." She believed people stay younger through learning and work. At 100 she still sang in her church choir." Source:http://www.kclibrary.org/localhistory/media.cfm?mediaID=208147, accessed January 30, 2006.

To have a chance to live as long as Audrey did and to live as well, make sure you have a good set of health care professionals who have had training in geriatrics; have the "spunk" to keep working or keep busy learning something new everyday; plan and take trips; and maybe, just maybe, take up choral singing!

Factiod: As of January 21, 2006, there were 65 validated living supercentenarians (58,female) according to this source -- http://www.grg.org/Adams/E.HTM -- accessed on January 30, 2006. Interestingly, 20 of these reside in the USA.

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