Christian Mortensen, 1882-1998
I created this page just a few weeks before
Chris died. Click here for a tribute written the week
after his death.
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Christian Mortensen was born on August 16,
1882. For the last two decades of his long life, he lived in San Rafael,
California, in the Aldersly Retirement Community. He was the oldest man whose
age has been fully verified -- see our article in The Gerontologist 36(6): 783-788,
1996. I visited Chris about once a month from
March 1995 until his death on April 25, 1998. During this time, he was blind
and could no longer walk on his own, but he was mentally aware and could
carry on an intelligent conversation (when he wanted to) almost until the
end. He always preferred a vegetarian diet and said the key to longevity is
to "live a good, clean life." One of his greatest passions in life
was a fine Danish cigar. Why a Danish cigar, you ask? Because Chris
was a Danish-American immigrant, although he lived many more years in the
United States than in Denmark. He arrived on Ellis Island in 1903 at the age
of 21. Just to give you a sense of what it means to live until the age of
115, consider this: he was too old to fight in the First World War! |
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(The photo above is courtesy of the SF
Examiner. The photos below were taken by my former research
assistant, Diana Friou.)
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Here I am with Chris at his 113th
birthday party in 1995. It was quite rare to see us both in ties, but hey, it
was a very special occasion! |
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Everyone loved to give Chris cigars. And
he loved to receive them too! I told him he just got lucky to live so long
while smoking cigars. He always said that moderation is what matters. Maybe
he was right. And I was in no position to argue with the old guy! |
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My first interviews with Chris were all
tape-recorded. The transcripts of those interviews provide evidence that a
person of such an advanced age is still capable of intelligent conversation. You
had to be patient, but if you gave him time and listened carefully, he had
many stories to tell. |
