Chapter 6
The Centenarian Spirit
You’ve Gotta Have Heart
THE CENTENARIAN SPIRIT
THE CENTENARIAN SPIRIT IN ACTION
RENEGOTIATING LIFE
SPARKS OF THE SPIRIT
CENTENARIANS ON THE GO
KEEPING LIFE INTERESTING—COMMON INTERESTS, NOT COMMON AGE
CONTEMPORARY CENTENARIANS—THINKING AND FEELING YOUNG
CATCH THE SPIRIT: FORGET AGING GRACEFULLY—AGE EXCELLENTLY!
A FORMULA FOR LONGEVITY
A TOAST TO FUTURE CENTENARIANS
“You’ve gotta have heart All you really need is heart When the odds are sayin’ you’ll never win That’s when the grin should start”
“Heart” music & lyrics by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross, for Damn Yankees, Broadway Musical, 1955, directed by George Abbott (who lived to be 107 years old)
What do Elsa Hoffmann, Verla Morris, Rosie Ross, and Will Clark have in common?
What they have in common is heart. It’s an intangible, but you feel it when you sit with them and hear their stories—theirs and a zillion stories of their peers, all of whose words resonate with the spirit that comes through in the lines from the song in Damn Yankees.
When Rosie Ross, at 101, takes the stage at the supper club in Prescott, Arizona, and raises that shiny new trumpet to his lips and belts out “Sugar Blues,” or puts on the mute for “You Made Me Love You,” and then sits down and talks with you about how much he loves performing, with a bourbon and a splash of water in hand, you know you’ve met the real thing.
When Elsa Hoffmann, at the age of 100, goes out and buys herself a purple Lincoln for her birthday, invites ...
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