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World's oldest man dies at the age of 114
Source: Agencies |
April 16, 2011, Saturday
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Print Edition
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WALTER Breuning's earliest memories stretched back 111 years. They were of his grandfather's tales of killing Southerners in the Civil War in the United States.
Breuning was three and horrified: "I thought that was a hell of a thing to say."
But the stories stuck, becoming the first building blocks into what would develop into a deceptively simple philosophy that Breuning, the world's oldest man at 114 before he died on Thursday, credited to his longevity.
Here's the world's oldest man's secret to a long life:
? Embrace change, even when change slaps you in the face. ("Every change is good.")
? Eat two meals a day ("That's all you need.")
? Work as long as you can ("That money's going to come in handy.")
? Help others ("The more you do for others, the better shape you're in.")
Then there's the hardest part. It's a lesson Breuning said he learned from his grandfather: Accept death.
"We're going to die. Some people are scared of dying. Never be afraid to die. Because you're born to die," he said.
Breuning died of natural causes in a Great Falls hospital where he had been a patient for much of April.
When he was 16, Breuning's parents split up and he took a low-level job with the Great Northern Railway in Melrose, Minnesota.
It was the beginning of a 50-year career, mostly as a clerk.
Breuning bought his first car in 1919, the same year women got the right to vote.
It was a secondhand Ford and cost US$150. Breuning remembered driving around town and spooking the horses that still crowded the streets.
He married and, with his wife, Agnes, bought a plot of land for US$15 to build a house. They survived the Great Depression, Breuning hanging on to his job, but the house never got built.
Despite the hard times, he said what he considered America's greatest achievement came in 1935, when President Franklin Roosevelt signed Social Security into law as part of his New Deal.
Agnes died in 1957 and Breuning retired six years later. Since 1980 he had lived at the Rainbow Senior Living retirement center in Great Falls, Montana.
He told a reporter last year: "Everybody says your mind is the most important thing about your body. Your mind and your body. You keep both busy, and by God you'll be here a long time."
Breuning was three and horrified: "I thought that was a hell of a thing to say."
But the stories stuck, becoming the first building blocks into what would develop into a deceptively simple philosophy that Breuning, the world's oldest man at 114 before he died on Thursday, credited to his longevity.
Here's the world's oldest man's secret to a long life:
? Embrace change, even when change slaps you in the face. ("Every change is good.")
? Eat two meals a day ("That's all you need.")
? Work as long as you can ("That money's going to come in handy.")
? Help others ("The more you do for others, the better shape you're in.")
Then there's the hardest part. It's a lesson Breuning said he learned from his grandfather: Accept death.
"We're going to die. Some people are scared of dying. Never be afraid to die. Because you're born to die," he said.
Breuning died of natural causes in a Great Falls hospital where he had been a patient for much of April.
When he was 16, Breuning's parents split up and he took a low-level job with the Great Northern Railway in Melrose, Minnesota.
It was the beginning of a 50-year career, mostly as a clerk.
Breuning bought his first car in 1919, the same year women got the right to vote.
It was a secondhand Ford and cost US$150. Breuning remembered driving around town and spooking the horses that still crowded the streets.
He married and, with his wife, Agnes, bought a plot of land for US$15 to build a house. They survived the Great Depression, Breuning hanging on to his job, but the house never got built.
Despite the hard times, he said what he considered America's greatest achievement came in 1935, when President Franklin Roosevelt signed Social Security into law as part of his New Deal.
Agnes died in 1957 and Breuning retired six years later. Since 1980 he had lived at the Rainbow Senior Living retirement center in Great Falls, Montana.
He told a reporter last year: "Everybody says your mind is the most important thing about your body. Your mind and your body. You keep both busy, and by God you'll be here a long time."
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