He could’ve lived this long and then some if he took better care of his symptoms earlier since I keep reading about the numerous people making it to 110-plus and I think NPR did a story about how America has tens of thousands of people over 100.
Everett or Grandpa (as he was known to my brother and me, our paternal one passed away too early for us to interact with him), was an interesting guy. He was the youngest child of a modest-sized family for the early Twentieth Century (at least five kids from what I heard discussed yet I figured there were more). He was also a fraternal twin, the older brother was named Elmer. While he was around, I knew him to be a prankster but his jokes could be mean-spirited (I didn’t inherit this); generosity was another trait (he liked to share food); lastly, education meant the world to him because he was deprived of it. Living to see Brian and me graduating from university was allegedly was the greatest joy he had. His dreams of college were dashed after a year at Notre Dame in the Twenties since the family farm had an emergency. The most elaborate explanation Mom gave me was the “old lady” (his name for his mother) didn’t want to pay for hired help and/or Elmer was homesick, didn’t like college.
Still, Everett did live through some amazing times. He was a kid during WWI and probably worried about US involvement for his older brothers could’ve been drafted to fight against distant family members. He saw the Roaring Twenties, endured the Great Depression and witnessed WWII from the sidelines as a farmer. I always thought he was too old to be drafted in 1942 (this would make him 38). Grandma said the Army drafted people up to 45 at the beginning so he was worried about this. When numerous people over 40 died in basic training from heart attacks, the Army reconsidered. He was born at the dawn of aircraft and saw the moon landings, all in 65 years! At birth, movies were finally becoming mainstream entertainment, the telephone an established technology while still expensive and radio was a military secret. Near the end, TV was ubiquitous and the modern Internet and cell phones were on the doorstep of becoming today’s 800-pound communication gorillas.
The list could go on. It’s small wonder why there’s all this jealousy over his generation and the following. He fell into the in-between group. Too young to be in the “Lost” group (Hemmingway, Fitzgerald who fought in WWI) and too old to be in the “Greatest” (mostly the WWII Vets). Not sure what nickname they had yet I don’t think they had it super easy thanks to the Great Depression.
My only regret I still have was never being able to relate to him when I became a young adult. I didn’t have the patience in my twenties and he was pretty gone age wise (90-plus). It wasn’t anything serious like dementia, I think he found my generation to be alien life form while my parents’ (the Boomers) were a pain in the ass. At least we agreed there.