Re:sound #143 The Centenarians Show

This hour: Stories about people who lived to be 100, and reflections from producer Neenah Ellis on what she learned from these remarkable centenarians.

All stories in this show were produced by Neenah Ellis and aired originally in 2000, in the NPR series One Hundred Years of Stories .

Helen and Bill Boardman
At an age when most people are simplifying their lives and settling into old age, Helen Boardman was opening a new chapter - traveling to Europe, writing her memoirs, and falling in love (at age 90) with a younger man.

Ruth Ellis
Having no children, and having been shunned by her family for being gay, Ruth Ellis found herself alone in old age. That is, until a brand-new community embraced her, and helped her make the most out of the final years of her life.

Abraham Goldstein
Retirement was never in the cards for Abe Goldstein, who taught law at Baruch College in New York well into his 100s.

Roy Larkin Stamper
Cattle rancher, coal miner and preacher are just a few of the vocations R.L. Stamper pursued over the course of his 100 years. In the last years of his life, R.L. believed the Rapture was imminent and he wanted just one more thing: a wife.

Marion Cowen
Marion Cowen worked in theater and film with some of the great stars of his time and still remembers a few stories, though many memories have faded. Having outlived his entire family and almost all of his friends, Marion's primary end-of-life companion was a beloved 26 year-old cat named Soho.

Anna Wilmot
After her husband died, Anna Wilmot chose not to re-marry, believing "when you've had the best, forget the rest." Although she had many friends who she visited often, she spent most of the last three decades of her life alone. Soltitude didn't bring her down however - on the contrary Anna found many things to love about her life.

This episode of Re:sound was produced by Katie Mingle.

Find more stories like these in the book If I Live to Be 100: Lessons from the Centenarians by Neenah Ellis, which was rereleased in hardback in 2019.