Who Was The Oldest Ever In Your Family?

[ColinJ]

Both Grandfathers got to around 93, even though one had been in bad health since his 60's.

Actually, that's a good point - a more inspiring question would be "Who was the oldest person in your family who had a good quality of life when they died?"

My dad was 84 when he died but his last couple of years weren't great and his last few months were horrid.

I'm not too bothered about the exact age that I live to. I'd rather die at 80 in relatively good health (apart from whatever it was that suddenly killed me! ) than have 30 years of poor health but live to be 100.

Ideally, I'd 'do a Beryl Burton' only aged 88 not 58 (go out on my bike, start to feel unwell and then pop my clogs at the side of the road).

 

[zimzum42]

I never got to meet him but my Uncle Harry was 106! Not bad at all!

 

[Brains]

Mums Grandmum lived to 96, died in 1967, so saw The British Emperess Victoria, electricity, radio, powered flight, two world wars, the commonwealth and space rockets. She missed man on the moon, computers, internet and instant global communication, but they were all seen by her daughter who lived to be 93

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

The oldest I know of was my Great Aunt Carson who lived to 98. My Aunt May lived till she was 91 and my Gran until she was 94. Mother and two Daughters there, so not bad!

Unfortunately I am not too aware of how the blokes did except for my Grandpa who lived to 79 (but then he had serious diabetes and smoked).

Anyway, My Aunt (My Dad's Sister and from the same female family line mentioned above) married into another family where her Husband's father lived till he was 96 and his Mum 99.

Actually, those two were pretty remarkable people as they both still lived at home and looked after their other Autistic son (himself well into middle age obviously), right up until they died, still completely compus mentus and as active as ever up until the end.

4 years older than Jane his wife, David was a first world war veteran and had worked up until he was in his '80s or '90s (I can't remember now) as a printer.
He went into hospital to get his pacemaker battery renewed and died quietly before it was renewed aged 96.

As for Jane, well, as a young girl she was told by a fortune teller that she would live until she was 99.
True to the prediction, she died age 99.
You can't get better than that, can you?

A truly remarkable couple who had lived a full and varied life, and their house stood as a real testament to that - it was FULL of really old, curious and valuable things, and what's more, you could ask them about things and they would tell you what it was and that they got it in July 1925 or whatever - they would tell stories about things that had done as if it happened just yesterday and when you asked when it was, you would find out that it was in April 1933 or the likes!
Amazing!

Unfortunately I am not related to that part of the family, but I am still glad to have known them, even if I was only 18 when Jane died.
They truly wove a golden thread though all of our memories and they are still the two most amazing people I have ever met, particularly for looking after Gordon, their autistic son until the end.

 

[Fnaar]

Had a grandad who got to 86 and I think a great-grandmother who reached her 90s, but the details are sketchy, as the others all died too young to pass all this info on properly

...BUT.... I can go to the other end of the impressive scale... My grandma (dad's mum) died in 1936, aged 36, having already had 10 children!

 

[Riding in Circles]

Quite a lot on my fathers side have topped 100, on my mothers side they pop off at about 90.

 

[automatic_jon]

My step great grandmother lived into her hundreds, although I'm unsure how far.

As far as blood relations go my great grandfather died a few days short of his hundredth birthday. He did well for a chain smoking alcoholic.

 

[Paulus]

My Grandmother lived to be 92, she was born in 1900 in Ridleys brewery, Essex. My dad is 84 and in reasonable health at the moment, still independant. My mum died three years back aged 80.

 

[Sh4rkyBloke]

My Nanna (Maternal Grandmother) was 98 when she finally popped her clogs. My Grandma on my Dad's side reached 94 and died a couple of years ago.

 

[661-Pete]

Surprisingly high level of longevity on this thread with several centenarians mentioned. I wonder if families that produce active cyclists also produce centenarians? There could be a link.

No such distinction in my family, the oldest I know of was my great-grandmother, maternal line, who died at 92: she was born in 1860. There's a link to history for you! There was a distant relative by marriage, my uncle's father-in-law, who saw out his 100th birthday with a lively party which by all accounts he thoroughly enjoyed every bit of it. Three or four days after the party, so I heard, he was found dead in bed having passed away peacefully. I think that would be a good way to go (reminds one of the movie Chocolat?)

 

[BrumJim]

Probably as it is self-selecting. Since we are looking for the oldest, only those with long-serving relatives have responded, and even those have carefully selected the best performing from amongst their relatives.

Living near Bournville in Birmingham, there seems to be a lot of old ex-Cadbury employees. Again, I don't know if it is because there are a lot of Cadbury pensioners, and therefore some will live to old age, whether there is something in chocolate that gives you a long life, or the Cadbury ethics of social responsibility, garden-style village and good employee care has had long-lasting effects, but there was a lady I knew who lived to 106, didn't go into a retirement home until she was over 100, and when she died, still wasn't the oldest ex-Cadbury employee in her nursing home. Her sister died a bit younger - 98 ish, IIRC, and their brother was really young when he passed away - only 92! Another lady I know gave up cycling in her early 90's (again, same ex-employee), and have met several others far too energetic and alert for their age who earned their crust down in Bournville.

 

[ChrisKH]

Not good in my family; Mum was 65 and Dad 72. Waiting to see how their surviving brothers and sisters get on - six on one side and four on the other so I'm expecting a few funerals in the not too distant future. My grandmother went when she was 87 and put it down to sex, Kitkats and Whisky.

I have a personal ambition to bleed my pension annuity providers dry, but suspect I shall die over my full English at the end of a Fnrttc when I'm 67.

 

[tyred]

My great grandmother on my dad's side was almost 105. She had been a widow for 66 years (my great grandad was killed in a threshing accident) and always wore black mourning clothes, even after all that time. She outlived three of her sons (all died in their late 70s), refused to use the electric light in her bedroom as she believed it was unhealthy and believed that the people on TV could her. She fried virtuallly everything she ate in butter which clearly never did her any harm. I have a few great aunts who lived to be late 90s and my one remaining great uncle who is now 89 and still smokes about 60 cigarettes a day.

 

[e-rider]

My grandad was either 93 or 94 before he passed away a couple of years ago. Until the age of 89 he was extremely active and fit but it started to go down hill a bit after that.

I don't expect to live beyond 75!