Q: What was the saddest time in your life?
A: When I lost my first baby. That was the worst feeling.
Q: Do you think about death?
A: No, it doesn’t bother me because of my experience I had in the hospital. I’ve already been to the other side. I was having a wonderful time, that’s why death doesn’t bother me. The doctors gave me up too … here I am 47 years later!
Q: What was the happiest time in your life?
A: When I got married – married to a wonderful man. I wouldn’t trade him for anything.
Q: Do you ever get depressed?
A: No, not really. Sometimes I get things that go wrong then I begin to do a lot of thinking, and I rise above it. My depression doesn’t bother me at all.
Q: What’s the best thing about being 79?
A: having a lot of fun. Knowing even at my age, and the years are piling up on me, that I keep getting younger. And I’m having the time of my life and I don’t have to punch a clock.
Q: What’s the worst thing about being 79?
A: (After a long pause) I never really gave it a thought. My age doesn’t bother me. I’m proud of being 79, because I’m having the time of my life!
Q: What’s your biggest fear about the future?
A: I don’t fear the future. Not at all, I just live day to day. Too many people fear the future, and they shouldn’t. They should just take every day as it comes.
Q: What’s the key to living a happy life?
A: Right thinking and right living. Love everybody and do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Right foods, having the right attitudes toward life. I’m healthy, I’m happy, I’ve got a good man, I’ve got a daughter I can be proud of, what more can a person ask?
After interviewing Cora and enjoying some of her homemade cookies, we went next door to get Tony. As Tony and I walked back to the house, we heard Cora talking to the neighbors about how wonderful young kids are today. I smiled to myself.
Tony is a quieter person than Cora. Although he is just as outgoing, you get a more reserved feel from him than from his wife. His gestures aren’t as wild, nor does he talk as fast as his wife, but he is still just alert and active as Cora.
Tony took me on a tour of the house, showing me pictures of himself in the Army during WWII and in the Buffalo police force. There were also pictures of his daughter to be seen which started him bragging for a half-hour about how proud he was of her. (She has her masters degree, teaches in a special education school, visits about once a month and calls often). He showed me the garden in the backyard that he works on and the compost heap that he tends. (“We recycle everything, “he said with a smile). He talked about how he loved to work with his hands and go for walks in the woods.
Q: How would you complete the statement, “As I get older,.l get _____ “?
A: I feel young, that’s what I tell Cora everyday. I don’t know what aches or pains are. I try to ask people, “What does it feel like?” because I don’t know what it is. I can climb the mountains like a deer and work like a horse all day long and I don’t even get tired. Age isn’t a factor at all. I must be doing something right.
Q: What was the saddest time in your life?
A: (After a long pause) That’s a good question, I’m trying to think. I really don’t know. It depends on how you look at the situation, there’s bad and good in all of it. If you look at the good in things, that is what you’ll see. If you start looking at the bad, you’ll see plenty of that. So it’s always the positive that I like to look at, not the negative.
Q: Do you think about death?
A: Death? No I accept death because to me life is eternal. This body is only temporal… “Thus you were created, thus you will die,” that’s what the good book says. But we ourselves are eternal.
Q: What was the happiest time in your life?
A: When I married my angel. You know we’ve been married 47 years and we’re still on our honeymoon?
Q: Do you ever get depressed?
A: We all have those days, we just consider what caused it… could be due to the elements. The best thing is to leave it alone. It will take care of itself. Don’t let worry, stress or strain bother you, in other words try to live a “neutral life” so to speak.
Q: What’s the best thing about being 73?
A: The older a person gets the more they learn. But the best thing is the wildlife. I can climb the mountains when I want.
Q: What’s the worst thing about being 73?
A: (After a long pause) I don’t know, I never thought of it. Like I tell Cora, when you get up in the morning, you have a lot to be thankful for. You’re alive. You should be thankful that you can enjoy another day and the beauties of creation, so to speak.
Q: What’s your biggest fear about the future?
A: I don’t have any•fear: We all have a natural fear, a fear of touching a hot stove or boiling water, but why should you fear the future?
Q: What’s the key to living a happy life?
A: Like I mentioned a while ago, look for the good in people, not the bad. There’s good and bad in everything-it all balances out. Still, look at the good.
I have to admit that I was really dreading having to interview two “old” people, even though they were friends of my father’s. I went into the interview with the attitude that I’d just have to do it and get it over with. Once I started talking to them however, their positive energy was so overwhelming that I started to enjoy it. They both love people and it showed in their interaction with me.
The only significant difference that I could find between Cora’s and Tony’s answers was in their handling of depression. When Cora feels a little down, she attacks the depression cognitively-thinking about it and how silly it is until it is no longer there. Tony simply ignores his depression, burying it. Such a difference might have been expected. Cora the wilder of the two, might be expected to tackle her feelings head on while Tony, the more controlled, might be expected to ignore the bad feelings until they went away.
Neither Cora nor Tony shows any signs of any physical sickness or negative mental attitudes that are stereotypically attributed to older people. They are healthy both mentally and physically. This can be attributed to their positive attitude about getting older (both of them say that they feel young) and to their high level of activity.
The most surprising answer to me was the question “What is the worst thing about being (your•age)?” Because I didn’t know them well, I thought that their answer would address the deterioration of their bodies, age discrimination, money problems or something of that nature. Instead both thought about it for a while but still couldn’t come up with an answer. They maintain that there is nothinq bad about being their age.
I have nothing but admiration for both Cora and Tony. To have lived so long and to be so active and fit they must be incredible people. People that are worried about their age or about aging could learn alot from these two.
THANK YOU Heavenly Father for such wonderful parents!
I love this interview. I didn’t know your mother had had a near-death experience. Vey interesting!
Loved the walk down memory lane. Uncle Tony with his calm quiet personality, his love for nature, love for his wife and of course pride and love for his daughter. Aunt Cora with her bubbly, outgoing personality, love for her husband and of course love for her daughter. Above all, I remember their “Love of God”. We’ll meet again some day and what a day of rejoicing that will be!!