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ADRIAN MA, HOST:
Over the previous couple of a long time, the variety of folks dwelling previous 100 years outdated has doubled within the U.S., and researchers predict that fee will proceed to climb. But what does it really really feel wish to dwell to that age? A member station, Cap Radio, has a brand new podcast known as This Is What It Feels Like. And for one episode, host Terra Lopez spoke with Glenna Lucille Walters. The resident of Rio Linda, Calif., was 106 years outdated on the time.
TERRA LOPEZ, BYLINE: Over the years, I had heard small tales about Glenna, how she performs her piano practically day by day and the way she likes to look at “The Bachelor” each Monday night time.
LOPEZ: What do you consider “The Bachelor” and “Bachelorette”?
GLENNA LUCILLE WALTERS: What do I give it some thought? I believe they’re fairly foolish (laughter). You know, they – all they do is kiss, simply kiss, kiss, kiss from one to the opposite. It’s a surprise if they do not catch one thing (laughter). I used to be the bachelorette then.
(LAUGHTER)
LOPEZ: I used to be intrigued, not solely as a result of she’s 106, however as a result of I wished to know the way somebody stays impressed at that age. Because once we discuss getting older, we often body the dialog round loss, the issues we lose as we age, our cognitive talents, our mobility, our consciousness, our family members. I’ve all the time thought getting older sounded so lonely. But sitting with Glenna in her lounge, I noticed firsthand a future that I wished to be part of.
I met Glenna in her residence in rural Rio Linda, Calif., the place she’s lived for over 40 years. Her maroon-colored recliner is within the middle of the lounge subsequent to a stack of books and an Alexa. There’s a wall of household images within the hallway, lined up subsequent to a few framed letters from Barack and Michelle Obama congratulating her on her a centesimal birthday. Her granddaughters, Sara and Cassie McFarland, are with us serving to facilitate the dialog as a result of Glenna is tough of listening to today.
CASSIE MCFARLAND: Grandma, did you ever think about you’ll be this outdated?
WALTERS: I by no means thought of it. Do you consider it? Do you suppose…
MCFARLAND: I do due to you.
WALTERS: I imply, do you suppose you are going to be that outdated?
MCFARLAND: I believe I could possibly be, however I do not stroll such as you all the time did.
WALTERS: (Laughter).
LOPEZ: You most likely get this, like, requested on a regular basis. But do you have got any secrets and techniques?
WALTERS: You imply apple cider vinegar? (Laughter).
LOPEZ: Is that your secret?
WALTERS: That’s what I inform folks as a result of they’re all the time asking me that. I mentioned, nicely, I simply drink quite a lot of apple cider vinegar (laughter).
LOPEZ: The finest day of Glenna’s life was the day she was born.
WALTERS: February the 1, 1916.
LOPEZ: When I hear Glenna say the 12 months she was born, 1916, I do not even know tips on how to course of that. And I’m much more baffled when she tells me that she’s as outdated as her native public library.
WALTERS: That library was put there the day I used to be born. I’m not kidding.
LOPEZ: Glenna was born and raised in Columbus, Ohio, together with her mom, father, and two sisters, Kerri and Ruby. Music has all the time been Glenna’s past love and was a bonding power for her and her sisters. She tells me that she and her sisters performed a number of devices rising up and would carry out in her city at native institutions. After she completed faculty, Glenna determined to observe her sister to Colorado. It was there she met her future husband, saxophone participant Howard Duke Walters.
WALTERS: They launched us, and we wrote within the rumble seat of the man’s automotive.
LOPEZ: What’s a rumble seat?
WALTERS: (Laughter) Well, it is simply an open automotive, but it surely’s received a seat within the again. And that is how I met him, my husband, Howard.
LOPEZ: Glenna and Howard would find yourself having 4 youngsters – Dan (ph), Glen, Susie and Wendy. During this time, Howard performed saxophone with a well-liked huge band, the Sonny Dunham Orchestra.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
WALTERS: In New York, we met Sinatra. He was on this system with Howard. I’ve received some Sinatra’s – what do you name…
LOPEZ: Autograph?
WALTERS: Yeah.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
LOPEZ: Playing in a big orchestra meant dividing up the cash. Glenna tells me that that is what led her and Howard to type their very own household band.
WALTERS: Baronettes.
LOPEZ: Glenna performed piano and sang. Howard performed the saxophone, and their son Glenn performed the drums. Soon the Baronettes received their first gig in Michigan.
WALTERS: Oh, that was a dandy (laughter).
LOPEZ: OK. So image this. Glenna was touring the nation in a van, hauling a trailer round with a full-sized piano, all of the whereas caring for a new child child, within the ’50s.
WALTERS: Well, it was our first job. And we did that for a number of years in the summertime.
LOPEZ: The Baronettes performed for years till Howard developed emphysema and needed to cease enjoying the saxophone. But Glenna stored touring together with her son Glenn and daughter Wendy, hitting the street, hauling that piano and trailer throughout the nation.
WALTERS: I needed to do the entire thing and drive all these locations, you realize. We had two kitty cats. We needed to get a cat.
LOPEZ: In the van with you?
WALTERS: Of course.
(LAUGHTER)
LOPEZ: It’s these moments the place you get a transparent glimpse into Glenna’s spirit, her pure skill to flow of life, to forge forward it doesn’t matter what and to have enjoyable whereas doing it.
Do you have got any necessary classes that you’ve got discovered over time?
WALTERS: Lessons? You imply what do you have to do and what you should not do?
LOPEZ: Yeah.
WALTERS: Well, you should not do medication. And I do not do medication. And you do not smoke.
LOPEZ: Glenna and Howard moved to Sacramento in 1975, watching their youngsters create their very own households. But in 1991, Howard’s well being was severely declining after years of battling diabetes.
WALTERS: He did not wish to go to the hospital, and I made him go as a result of he had diabetes. And he simply wished to die. He says, I wish to croak. That’s what he mentioned. And all people mentioned, oh, he desires a Coke.
(LAUGHTER)
WALTERS: I mentioned, no, he does not desire a Coke as a result of he drinks Pepsis.
(LAUGHTER)
WALTERS: Said, he wished to croak.
LOPEZ: I’m struck by the benefit through which Glenna is ready to discuss loss. I’m positive she’s had years to course of this and to inform that story, but it surely’s nonetheless outstanding to me that she’s in a position to chuckle at her personal private losses and see the lightness inside it. And although Glenna has this unbelievable means of letting go and dwelling within the second, she does reminisce about Howard and their relationship whereas I’m there.
WALTERS: I fell in love with that saxophone (laughter). Yes. I used to be very a lot in love with him.
LOPEZ: After Howard died, Glenna says she discovered a brand new sense of self by taking cross-country journeys to state and nationwide parks.
WALTERS: All on my own, and spent cash on myself, I did.
LOPEZ: She nonetheless performs the piano and reads rather a lot.
MCFARLAND: Grandma, what number of books do you have got in your journal?
WALTERS: Four thousand and 100 – 4,000 one thing.
LOPEZ: Since when?
WALTERS: Since I turned 65, I used to be preserving observe of the books I learn.
LOPEZ: You’ve learn that many since then?
WALTERS: Yeah.
LOPEZ: That’s unbelievable.
WALTERS: I’ve received a written e-book.
MCFARLAND: How lengthy does every e-book take to learn?
WALTERS: About every week.
MCFARLAND: Why do not you inform them what e-book you bought from the library? The huge one.
WALTERS: Well, it is proper over there. It says, Barack Obama. And it is that thick. No kidding. I’m going to learn it, I believe.
LOPEZ: Is that your subsequent e-book that you’ll learn?
WALTERS: No, I believe I’ll depart that until final.
LOPEZ: I’m struck by her skill to plan forward at this age, however much more so to have the optimism to plan forward. As we’re wrapping up the dialog, Glenna’s granddaughter Cassie asks her…
MCFARLAND: What are your ideas on all of the expertise and cellphones all of us have?
WALTERS: Well, I often suppose, nicely, you positive wasted quite a lot of time (laughter), losing quite a lot of time.
LOPEZ: What brings you pleasure?
WALTERS: What brings me pleasure? Music. I like music. It’s the very best of something.
LOPEZ: She turns to the Alexa that’s sitting on her facet desk.
WALTERS: Alexa, Andre Previn must play some jazz.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
MA: That was Glenna Lucille Walters of Rio Linda, Calif. She handed away earlier this 12 months on the age of 107. And you could find extra of her dialog with Terra Lopez on the podcast This Is What It Feels Like from member station Cap Radio in Sacramento.
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