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Thursday: Boomers & Beyond

Woman celebrates turning 103 years old, COVID-19 style

CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. — It was never a question of if, but how. How to celebrate Elizabeth Hill’s 103rd birthday, when her own health is fading and everyone else’s is uncertain due to a pandemic? “I told them to stay at home this year,” said Hill. Elizabeth’s daughter, Connie Hill, initially figured her mother’s celebration would be limited to just phone calls, but then she conspired with Elizabeth’s AsceraCare Hospice Social Worker Rhonda Davis. They determined, if Elizabeth couldn’t go to a party, the party would have to come to Elizabeth. Friends and family members ...

Plastic keeps virus, not love away from Spain nursing home

BARCELONA, Spain — Even when it comes wrapped in plastic, a hug can convey tenderness, relief, love and devotion. The fear that gripped Agustina Canamero during the 102 days she and her 84-year-old husband spent physically separated during Spain’s coronavirus outbreak dissolved the moment the couple embraced through a screen of plastic film. Pascual Perez, her husband, lives at a nursing home in Barcelona, one of the many that locked out visitors to try to shield their residents as the coronavirus killed so many elderly Spaniards. Canamero, 81, stayed during the country’s ...

Annapolis gives back to its beloved ‘Walking Man’ after decades

ANNAPOLIS, Md. — For 40-some years he would patrol West Street like clockwork, picking up trash in an animated jaunt that sometimes led him into the road. With trashbags tucked into his pants, he’d ask “Where the girls at?” and flash his legendary beaming smile. Most knew him as “The Walking Man,” “The West Street Walker” or “The Bag Man.” But it wasn’t until Carlester Smith, 63, disappeared from the streets of Annapolis that many came to know his real name. Now, to thank him for his years of hard work, the city is rallying around him as the Annapolis man’s ...

Cheers to 100 years: Celebrating a century of Ora Vardigan

MARQUETTE — When Ora Vardigan turned 100 years old on Sunday, she didn’t want to admit it. But the century birthday is quite a milestone. So how does it feel being 100 years old? “I don’t know because I don’t stop to think about it,” she said. At 100, Varidgan is the oldest ...

Preventing diabetes

MARQUETTE — A year-long course aims to help individuals on the wrong track toward developing diabetes reverse their life path by promoting a healthy diet and physical exercise. Michigan State University Extension will be offering “National Diabetes Prevention Program” online via Zoom ...

Coronavirus deadly to those over 80 but many survive

PHILADELPHIA — Anna Marie Bresnan, who lives at Philadelphia Protestant Home, a retirement community in Northeast Philadelphia, is 84 and has chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. John and Kitty Stagliano, of Exton, are both 82 and have diabetes and high blood pressure. Norma Cammisa is 93, has dementia, takes medicine for high cholesterol, and lives in a nursing home in Collingswood. All of them caught the coronavirus. All of them survived. Why they did so well when thousands of other people over 80 have succumbed to the new disease is a mystery that intrigues and heartens ...