View Full Version : What is the oldest family member you can recall?
I was lucky enough to know my great-great grandmother. That's right, my grandmother's grandmother! I was about 9 when she died, so it isn't like some fleeting early childhood memory, I actually remember her! I was blessed to know all four of my grandparents well, being the first-born grandchild on either side to young parents. Buried my last grandparent last summer; she was 93 and I was almost 53.
That great-great grandmother was originally from Germany. Grandma Nagel. Had a thick accent. I remember I had a basket of toys at my grandmother's house (she lived with my grandma, the one who died last summer). I'd be digging through that basket looking for something and she'd come in and ask "Vut ya huntin' boy?"
I have a black and white picture somewhere of my baptism. Shows all five generations in it, starting with G-G-Grandma Nagel all the way down to me.
I had all but 3 great grandparents till I was 6 or 7 so I can remember the other 5 to some extent. I was 29 when the last one died. Still have 2 grandparents.
I had all but 3 great grandparents till I was 6 or 7 so I can remember the other 5 to some extent. I was 29 when the last one died. Still have 2 grandparents.
As far as great-grandparents go, 3 died before I was born, one died when I was about 3yo and so I barely remember her, 2 died when I was 5yo and 6yo, and the other 2 I knew quite well growing up. That pic once again had all of them in it.
I gotta find that thing.....
My grandmother was 103 years old when she passed away 3 years ago. Amazing to think of the all events & changes she experienced over her time on this earth.
My grandmother was 103 years old when she passed away 3 years ago. Amazing to think of the all events & changes she experienced over her time on this earth.
Usually if you have someone who lives that long there is a genetic link. Did she have siblings who lived to be pretty old (like 90+), i.e. your great-aunts or great-uncles? Bodes well for the parent of yours that she was
a parent of. Maybe you too!
That G-G-Grandmother Nagel I mentioned apparently lied about her age. She died in 1974 or 1975 and it turned out she was 92yo, but my family didn't find out until she died and they went through her stuff. That puts her born in the early 1880's.
A few of my great-grandparents plus most of my grandparents have hit 80s on up into 90s. Downside on the genetic link that most of them ended up with Dementia or Alzheimer's. Every time I forget something it is an oh crap! is this a sign? moment lol
Usually if you have someone who lives that long there is a genetic link. Did she have siblings who lived to be pretty old (like 90+), i.e. your great-aunts or great-uncles? Bodes well for the parent of yours that she was
a parent of. Maybe you too!
Yeah, I believe most of her siblings lived into their late 80’s or early 90’s. She was the oldest in her family & out lived every one of them.
I do recall my grandma taking care of her aunt when I was younger. I don’t recall her exact age but I believe she was in her 90’s when she died.
My grandma survived ovarian cancer in the 1980’s and 48 years of 2nd hand smoke from my grandpa. Probably was her wonderful German cooking & an occasional beer that kept around for so long. She was a wonderful person so karma may have played a role too.
She was totally sound minded when she passed away. She had fell at her house one day and was in the hospital as a result. She told my mom that she had a feeling she’d never go back home. We felt that was crazy talk because she was only bruised. She ended up developing pneumonia and died a few days later. I was fortunate enough to be there with her and was holding her hand when she took her last breath.
Yeah, I believe most of her siblings lived into their late 80’s or early 90’s. She was the oldest in her family & out lived every one of them.
I do recall my grandma taking care of her aunt when I was younger. I don’t recall her exact age but I believe she was in her 90’s when she died.
My grandma survived ovarian cancer in the 1980’s and 48 years of 2nd hand smoke from my grandpa. Probably was her wonderful German cooking & an occasional beer that kept around for so long. She was a wonderful person so karma may have played a role too.
She was totally sound minded when she passed away. She had fell at her house one day and was in the hospital as a result. She told my mom that she had a feeling she’d never go back home. We felt that was crazy talk because she was only bruised. She ended up developing pneumonia and died a few days later. I was fortunate enough to be there with her and was holding her hand when she took her last breath.
The grandfather I was closest to (USMC WWII vet, spoiled me rotten) died the day after Christmas in 1993 of natural causes. I was the one who found him. I strangely feel that there is some dubious "honor" to a situation like that. Like if anyone should have found him it should've been me.
The_War_Wagon
09-03-19, 21:38
I actually remember going to my paternal great-grandmother's funeral, because my little brother and I rode with our granddad (and some of his siblings) in her Cadillac limousine!
I've ALWAYS been a car guy, and I can remember the car exactly.
https://www.cars-on-line.com/photo/81900/61cad81999-1.jpg 1961 Cadillac Fleetwood Series 60 Special (Great-Granddaddy had money, but he'd died in '58) - this EXACT color, too.
I was 3 1/2 years old - my little brother was 2. My sister was a newborn (within DAYS of great-grandma's death!), so her, mom, and dad went separately.
Our family (the men anyways) are not terribly long-lived. My dad was the first male to make it to 73, since 1843! He just turned 83 in June, but I'll never live that long. I'll leave my wife instructions on how to let you know I've passed on... but whether she DOES or not's another story. :rolleyes:
Suffice to say, if you don't hear from me for a solid month on here, it's safe to assume I've transferred to the Church Triumphant. Late 50's is our average lifespan (and I don't go to doctors - I don't trust them after Der Kommissar ObamassarKare), and I'm already 52. The end is coming soon. ;)
My paternal grandfather (Dad's dad) was born in 1885, and died in 1968. I remember him, and his funeral when I was 8 years old.
My great aunt Lizzie, born 1878 in Norway, was 70 when I was born and lived to 106. Her husband died in the early 1920s. She then moved into an apartment building in Crookston, Minnesota. The owner only rented to Christian widows and never raised their rent. She lived there for 50+ years.
She was short, under five feet and never cut her hair. When she uncoiled the rolled up braids nightly to brush it out we kids were stupefied. It was maybe seven feet long. In the sixties I asked her what she thought of women burning their bras. She approved saying bras were the devil’s work.
I remember her as a kind old lady who doted on children though she never had any of her own. And that she made a delicious glorified rice for family gatherings at my grandparents farm. Her apartment was a time machine to the 1920s complete with foot-pump organ.
I knew my mom's grandmother (so my g g gm), who we called "Mor" (Her name was Borghild but "Mor", "Mother", as she was mother to the whole family, and also the mother of my grandmother). She was born in 1895 in Norway and came to the US in about 1910. She died in 1987 as a passenger in a car accident at the age of 92. I was 21, almost 22. Her husband was also from Norway, and was called "Far" (meaning "Father", actual name "Abel"). He was 11 years older than she was and died a few years before I was born, unfortunately.
I also met both of my mother's grandparents on her father's side. We called them Grandma and Grandpa Thompson (Kristian and Anne Sofie). Thompson was not their name in Norway, but the name they adopted when they got to the US. My understanding is that his name was Ogadahl and was named after the family farm, which was probably named by location (this is form memory). Her surname seems to have been Knutsen. They lived in Illinois, and we lived in Arizona at the time, but they came to Utah to visit the greater family a few times and we went up to see them when they were in Utah. They were both born in Norway in 1890. I am not sure when they came to the US.
My dad's side is mostly English and Welsh, and unfortunately, I only knew my grandmother, my dad's mom, "Anna Mae". She died when I was 23. My dad's dad died the year before I was born when he was 70. I did not know anyone further back than my grandma. My dad was the youngest kid in his family and my mom was the oldest in her family, and my dad is about 6 years older than my mom, so his relations were that much older. His dad was born the same year as my mom's grandmother, in 1895.
And that she made a delicious glorified rice for family gatherings at my grandparents farm.
Was that a savory rice or a sweet "rice pudding" sort of thing? We have a supposedly Norwegian tradition of sweet rice pudding at Christmas, called "riskrem" (long-e). Not sure how authentic it is, but I do know that when I lived in Germany, they had a similar thing called "Milchreis" (Milk Rice or rice pudding), and there is a certain overlap of northern European cuisine between Germany, Scandinavia, Holland, etc.
This Wiki definition is what she made. Though I think pineapple was replaced with raisins sometimes. We never had cherries on it. She sprinkled something on top. Nutmeg maybe.
“Glorified rice is a dessert salad popular in the Midwestern cuisine served in Minnesota and other states in the Upper Midwest and other places with Norwegians. It is popular in more rural areas with sizable Lutheran populations of Scandinavian heritage. It is made from rice, crushed pineapple, and whipped cream. It is often decorated with maraschino cherries.”
I just remembered how my grandmother and great aunt drank coffee. They would hold a sugar cube between their teeth and slurp the coffee through it. At least one of the older relatives would slurp from a saucer!
This Wiki definition is what she made. Though I think pineapple was replaced with raisins sometimes. We never had cherries on it. She sprinkled something on top. Nutmeg maybe.
“Glorified rice is a dessert salad popular in the Midwestern cuisine served in Minnesota and other states in the Upper Midwest and other places with Norwegians. It is popular in more rural areas with sizable Lutheran populations of Scandinavian heritage. It is made from rice, crushed pineapple, and whipped cream. It is often decorated with maraschino cherries.”
OK, so similar to what we have but we don't have the pineapple. Just the rice and whipped cream and probably some almond flavoring. And a single (blanched) whole almond -- whoever gets it gets a prize. We put raspberry sauce on it but I think that is a family "enhancement".
Thanks!
I’m 36, will be 37 this month and have three grandparents. I am extremely lucky.
My father’s parents are 95 but my grandmother isn’t going so well. Severe dementia, can’t speak. My grandfather came out to dinner with us this past weekend when I went back to NJ. Still goes on walks every morning though with a walker. He was always meticulous about making sure he got some form of exercise. His mother passed away in the late 1980’s, I am unsure of how old she was when she passed. I was a kid, maybe 5 or 6 and I don’t remember her much. She lived in a small village about an hour outside of Kiev.
My mom’s mother is 81 and doing fairly well. Her father, my Great Grandfather passed away in 2003 at the age of 94. His aunt passed at the age of 104 but I never met her.
My Great Uncle is still alive. He's 97 and doing really well. Up until 2 years ago he was still hoping on a tractor and mowing almost 7 acres of field and grass around his farm. The last couple of years he's been living in a assisted living facility but still goes up to the farm and piddles around. I bet he makes 100 easy.
My grandmother died last year. She was 102. I remember her mother that was 104 when she died in 1998. I remember meeting her mother when i was very young in the early 1970s. That was my Great Great Grandmother, she was 99 when she died in 1976.
Furbyballer
09-04-19, 09:50
my grandmother passed on at 98 on my fathers side. She is the oldest in our family that I can remember.
I have one grandparent left. My Grandmother is 95 and I’m 44.
The oldest relative I ever met was my GGFather born in 1892 but I knew a few relatives born in the 1800’s. My Great Aunt Clementina was born 1898 and I was pretty close to her. She found it hilarious that I found her age so interesting. I used to say stuff like “I can’t believe you were born before cars!” She lived to be 97
I was born in 1968, my only living grandparent, my mother's dad, died when I was...6? Maybe 7. He was born in 1884, died in 1975. One of his siblings died in her 90s when I was a wee lad.
LowSpeed_HighDrag
09-04-19, 17:03
83, currently alive. No one in my family has made it past 83.
My grandmother died last year. She was 102. I remember her mother that was 104 when she died in 1998. I remember meeting her mother when i was very young in the early 1970s. That was my Great Great Grandmother, she was 99 when she died in 1976.
Talk about genetics! That shit runs in your family bro. Keep your fingers crossed that you got some of that good stuff!
My great-grandmother. She was born in 1901 and lived to 2001. Her daughter my grandmother passed three years ago at the age of 88. Pretty cool I was able to spend a lot of time with my great-grandmother, I was 18 when she died. She grew up on a farm in upstate New York and said she didn’t see an actual automobile until she was in her teens and didn’t have electricity until about that same time.
Her son my great-uncle Bud served in WWII in the pacific. He never spoke about it, but at his funeral five years ago we learned he was involved in multiple island invasions.
That’s on my Mother’s side.
On my Fathers side everyone died pretty young. My Pepe died in 1993, he was born in 1927. Joined the Army at the end of WWII and saw action in the opening stages of the Korean War. He also never spoke about it. But my Dad said his earliest memories are hearing his Dad screaming in his sleep. My Pepe also slept with a pistol under his bed till the day he died. I remember him showing it to my brother and I when we were kids and my Meme walking in and yelling at him about it, haha.
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G-Grandmother - 99 -- oldest I can recall interacting with on multiple occasions / many years. Don't think I ever met any of her older family realm. If I did I don't recall but it could have occurred.
Grandmother - 99 -- very much a part of my life.
They were mother and daughter.
My grandmother on my dad’s side is 92 (I’m 39). She’s managed to outlive her husband and 3 of her sons (all passed in their early 60s), including my dad. Needless to say, I’m watching my health closely.
I have a photo with her and her grandmother from ‘82 or ‘83. Having lost touch with that side of the family for 25-30 years, I’m not sure when she passed or how old she was.
Talk about genetics! That shit runs in your family bro. Keep your fingers crossed that you got some of that good stuff!
No sh!t......LOLOLOLOL
Averageman
09-09-19, 08:02
My Grandmother on my Dad's side was born in 1890 something. She had two boys and a girl when sometime around 1938, my Dad came along and surprised the whole fam damily.
She used to tell me about everyone walking to the bus station in town so her boys could go off to fight in WWII and how angry my Dad was that he couldn't go too.
My Grandmother was a wealth of information, little tricks to get along and could live and raise a family on nearly zero dollars.
Her gardens were a thing of beauty and they could also feed the entire family. The same one acre plot of garden was worked year after year by her, by hand.
I remember watching the first man walk on the moon with her sitting on the floor beside her in the living room floor. I asked her if she ever thought she would see a man walk on the moon and her reply blew my mind. "Hell, we didn't even have airplanes when I was a little girl." BOOM!
ramairthree
09-09-19, 11:26
My relatives don’t seem to make it to super old. Late 80s, early 90s.
So I guess it’s bad news they aren’t making past 100.
On the other hand, despite drinking, smoking, and eating what they want,
They tend to be very active and spry and mentally sharp and not on meds, oxygen, walkers, in nursing homes, etc. and all the other elderly people stuff and then fall off a roof or a horse and cracking their skull, or chopping wood after shoveling snow and having a stoke, etc. and go from sharp, active, and spry to dead instantly or in a matter of days.
Usually in the 88-92 years old range.
They were all extremely active and high physical workloads which has to be part of it.
The oldest family member I remember was my dad's aunt Arlene (my grandpa's sister), she was 100 when she passed away in 2015. Her only child, a son died in 2007 and her husband died in 1970. My aunt, my dad's sister, took over most of her care and needs.
Aunt Arlene went to the hospital for something. They found she had pancreatic cancer. The day she came home my aunt told her what she had and she said ok like it was no big deal. She went to bed that night and passed away in her sleep.
Three of my great grandma's lived well into their 90's.
NYH1.
Seems like people on my dad’s side die pretty young, my dad and his siblings are older than their parents were when they died. I don’t remember either of them. On my mom’s side, her mom’s parents lived into my teens, I remember them both, my great grandfather died of a heart attack while shoveling snow and my great grandmother passed a few years later, I don’t remember from what but she had been in a hospital/hospice for a few months before.
Now both of my mom’s parents’ siblings are still alive but my only grandparents still alive are my wife’s who live in Manila, lives through the Japanese occupation during WW2 as preteens.
My FIL lives with us (shows my undying love and affection for my wife). He had his 94th birthday last week.
He was living alone and losing weight, plus his doctor said that he wasn't getting enough interaction with folks which would hasten his drop in cognitive ability.
Glad we had room for him.
My Mom passed when she was 84.
My FIL lives with us (shows my undying love and affection for my wife). He had his 94th birthday last week.
He was living alone and losing weight, plus his doctor said that he wasn't getting enough interaction with folks which would hasten his drop in cognitive ability.
Glad we had room for him.
My Mom passed when she was 84.
My FIL is a WWII vet. He's 93. He'll be 94 on Veteran's Day. My MIL is like 9 years younger. Either one of them could live with us, it wouldn't matter to me. I have more respect for my FIL than I had for my own dad.
My Grandmother on my Mother's side lived to be 103. She was born on Christmas day in 1900. She passed away in August of 2004. She still lived alone, and took very good care of herself. She would walk 3 blocks every Wednesday to get her hair done, and she loved going to the local Casinos with her bag of nickles to play the one-armed bandits. Her hair dresser invited her to take a ride to the Casino one day, which she gladly did. After several hours at the Casino, they decided it was time to leave. Grandma went to the cashier to cash her coins out, and while standing in line, went to grab onto the post with the red velvet rope, to support herself. The post was not mounted in the floor, so it gave way under her weight and she fell, breaking her hip.
After surgery, she had to live in a convelescant home for about a month, and one day she said "I think I want to say my Rosary", and took out her Rosary beads. With her Rosary beads in her hands, she closed her eyes, and never opened them again. She never drove a car, never drank any alcohol, and never smoked.
I hope I have some of her long life genes.
Last one just died in July, pat. Grandmother at 96.
First one died when I was around 9, so I knew all 4 grands, never a great-grand. 3 of them made it past 92.
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