Celebrating the Achievements of the Older Generation
This book celebrates a wide range of achievements. Some of the people included continued doing things throughout their lives, and into very old age, while some picked up skills again and developed them in different ways later in life. Others embarked upon entirely new activities and enterprises, providing a fascinating mix. There are familiar names; many may be surprises: the hidden gems. It is a collection of famous and unexpected examples of the limitless possibilities of life, where “age is only a number”, as nonagenarian marathon runner Gladys Burrill observed.
Many have been recognised and celebrated in documentaries and biographies—like playwright Arthur Miller, astronaut/politician John Glenn and actor Betty White, when she was 96. Futurist Jacque Fresco featured in semi-biographical films in his 90s—Future by Design and Zeitgeist Addendum. Artist Beatrice Wood’s 100th birthday was recognised in a film, Beatrice Wood: Mama of Dada. At the age of 88, opera singer Magda Olivero appeared as herself in the movie, The Art of Singing: Golden Voices of the Century, and Tao Porchon Lynch featured in the documentary, If You’re Not in the Obit, Eat Breakfast, when she was 102. Singer-songwriter Joy McKean’s 80th birthday was celebrated with a concert and when she was 90, the documentary film Slim and I told the story of Joy’s life with her husband, Australian country music singer Slim Dusty.
Some wrote their own autobiographies. Sister Madonna Buder published, at age 80, The Grace to Race: The Wisdom and Inspiration of the 80-Year-Old World Champion Triathlete Known as the Iron Nun. Obstetrician and gynaecologist,Dr Catherine Hamlin, at age 77, published The Hospital by the River: A Story of Hope about the hospital she established to treat obstetric fistula in Ethiopia. At age 97, yoga specialist Tao Porchon Lynch published Dancing Light: The Spiritual Side of Being Through the Eyes of a Modern Yoga Master. At age 103, athlete Ida Keeling published Can’t Nothing Bring Me Down. Aviator Margaret Ringenberg published her story, Girls Can’t Be Pilots, at age 77. At age 80, bodybuilder Ernestine Shepherd published Determined, Dedicated, Disciplined to Be Fit.
Virtuoso pianist Arthur Rubinstein wrote two volumes to tell his life story, the second, My Many Years, when he was 93. A number of people from the acting and creative writing worlds published autobiographies, like Christopher Plummer, Vanessa Redgrave and Agatha Christie. Political leader Nelson Mandela published Long Walk to Freedom at age 86, and at age 92, Conversations with Myself, a collection of letters, diary entries and other writings that provide a valuable insight into his life.
The achievements shown cover a wide range of themes. One theme is the number of world records that people have attained in the field of athletics and other physical competitions, making and remaking records. For marathon runner Fauja Singh, records, he said, were a “by-product” of his age, like the fastest marathon time in the 90-plus age bracket and, at the age of 100, setting five world records for his age group in a single 94-minute period. Some of these events had no previous record holder, as nobody over age 100 had ever attempted the distance.
Stanislaw Kowalski made his debut in official athletics competitions at the age of 104, when on 10th May 2014 he became the oldest person in Europe to run 100 metres. A new age division for World Masters Athletics for those over 105 had to be created and, as he was the only member to have competed, all of his performances were world records. Other men in this volume in these record-breaking categories of sporting competitions, include cyclist Robert Marchand, bodybuilder Jim Arrington, marathon runners Ed Whitlock and Paul Spangler, Olympian Oscar Swahn and ironman Neville de Mestre.
Of the women, athlete Olga Kotelko set no fewer than 30 world records and won hundreds of medals in her age category. In the 90–95 age category she was regarded as one of the world’s greatest athletes, holding every track and field world record she attempted for her age group. Marathon runner, Gladys “Gladyator” Burrill, entered the Guinness World Records for being the oldest woman, at age 92, to complete a marathon, power walking and jogging her way throughout the race. Sister Madonna “Iron Nun” Buder achieved fame at the age of 82, in 2010, when she became the overall “ironman” world record holder and has opened up about five new age groups for competitors.
Runner Ida Keeling became the first woman ever to complete the 100-metre race at the age of 100, in 2016. In the same year, just before her 101st birthday, she set the world record for the number of push-ups in her age bracket, as well as breaking her own world record in 100 metres. She also became another world record sprinter at the age of 103. Swimmer Katherine Pelton set 34 FINA Masters World Records from the age of 83.
There are examples of older people doing singularly extraordinary things. Former nurse, Barbara Hillary, became one of the oldest people to set foot on the North Pole, and the first black woman, in 2007 when she was 75, and again at 79, to do the same at the South Pole. Nearing his 100th birthday, Tom Moore became a celebrity in the UK and across the world in early 2020, due to his fundraising campaign to support the National Health Service. Tom’s ambition was to complete one hundred 25-metre lengths of his garden, ten lengths per day, with the help of a walking frame. He named his campaign “Tom’s 100th Birthday Walk for the NHS”.
Reflecting on the idea that “age is only a number”, Gladys Burrill said, “People can be old at 40. It’s important to think positive and to dream.” “To inspire, that’s the name of the game”, said Olga Kotelko. And, as Allan Stewart remarked, “It’s never too late to expand your mind, make new friends and challenge yourself to achieve something worthwhile.”
The book provides a selection of talent and achievement, in concise biographical cameos, presented alphabetically. For every person included in this volume, the cameo is but a short snippet of a rich life lived. Their stories should be an inspiration to the ageing populations around the globe.
Professor John Croucher is a leading Australian academic who has played a significant role on both the national and international stage for many years, being a prolific author with over 130 published research papers in areas of interest to educators, statisticians, lawyers, medical practitioners, mathematicians, computer analysts, historians, scientists and the public. Along the way he has also published 32 books and is an elected Fellow of both the Royal Society of the Arts in the UK and the Australian Mathematical Society, his world class research leading to numerous invitations both national and internationally as a keynote speaker. In 2015, he was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for “significant service to mathematical science in the field of statistics as an academic, author and mentor, and to professional organisations.”