Over 100 & Simply Amazing!

Posted July 20, 2009, 3:58 pm in Aging


Eric Shackle did it again. He's exposed another hidden gem. Another fantastic story on a person over the age of 100.

We first learned of Eric through his wonderful articles on Olive Riley in Australia, who at age 108 was the World's Oldest Blogger. Or so he thought!

Growing Bolder actually had the World's Oldest Blogger! She was 109 years old and also the oldest member of a social networking Web site. She gleefully filed dozens of incredible video blogs on subjects ranging from her meeting Adolph Hitler to Britney Spears.

Eric and I delighted in each other's discoveries and couldn't wait to tell each other every time we learned of another amazing centenarian.

One was 110-year old Onie Ponder who believes she is the 86th oldest person in the world! She was thrilled to welcome the Growing Bolder crew for a visit. She told us how excited she was to have the chance to vote for Barack Obama and showed us how well she gets around without needing a wheelchair! Take a look for yourself!

Now, it's Eric's turn. He has found yet another amazing centenarian. She is 102-year-old Margaret Caldwell. He wrote a fine article on her with a very compelling headline, Former Pin-Up Girl, Now 102, World's Oldest Columnist.

She lives in Mesquite, Nevada and writes about life for the Desert Valley Times. Rather than have me summarize a fascinating life, here's just a bit of her own writing describing a few of her many amazing experiences:

Hollywood, 1930s

I was born on Feb. 1, 1907, in the backwoods of Minnesota on a homestead, 25 miles from Backus, which now has a population of 2,500 people, the year before Henry Ford came out with his first Model T Ford.

Margaret's Pin-Up photo

I have seen the history of the 20th century; watched the boys leave for war -- World War I, that is, as well as World War II, The Korean Conflict, Vietnam, Desert Storm and Iraq. I remember the 1918-1919 flu epidemic.

In the 1950s

Any 100 year old has done a lot of living. I think I have packed more into my lifetime than most.

I have:

• lived all over the country, from California to New York City to Richmond, Virginia,
• seen the first rocket go off at White Sands, New Mexico,
• visited Yellowstone, the Grand Canyon, Carlsbad Caverns, among other places,
• counted movie stars such as Lillian Roth, Marie Dressler, Peggy Ann Garner, Elizabeth Taylor and Wallace Beery as friends,
• started the Virginia Cerebral Palsy Association and spoken at the Virginia Health Conference on Crippled Children,
• worked as Authorization Manager for Lord and Taylor in New York City,
• made a commercial for McDonald's,
• met Grant Woods, Albert Einstein, Bill Pachner, Gustav Rehberger, Leonard Goldenson, founder of ABC, among others,
• published a successful novel and written another for the Eldred (my maiden name) family.
• I am presently completing another novel about a marriage made in heaven or hell, as the case may be.
• Presently I write a weekly column for a local newspaper, based on my insights and understandings of the past and present.

She is obviously a remarkable woman. Look for more from Margaret on Growing Bolder very soon.

And I would be remiss not to tell you more about my friend Eric Shackle. Congratulations are in order as I believe he has been writing newspaper articles for 70 years! He was born in England but has lived most of his life in Australia. He writes about a variety of subjects but seems to be most passionate about telling the stories of amazing people over the age of 100. He is the author of the very first multi-national e-book, Life Begins At 80, On The Internet! You'll find many of his articles there. Eric himself is a very young 89 years old.

If you know anyone over 100 who has a story to tell, contact us at Growing Bolder and contact Eric Shackle. We think the world should know about them!!!

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