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YourHub.com \\ The Valley \\ Stories \\ Milestones \\ Birthdays

Edith Cratty Hooper is too young at age 106!

On 9/19/2008

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Contributed by: Jennifer Chai on 9/22/2008

She's too young to join the "Supercentenarians," but a birthday at age 106 is still pretty good!

Imagine turning 106 and you're still too young to join an exclusive club where membership starts at age 110! What a surprising case of reverse age discrimination it is to be at least 110 years of age to join the exclusive club of "Supercentenarians."

But Edith Cratty Hooper wasall smiles about her birthday, Friday, Sept. 19.

The Gardens at Park Balboa recently hosted the 106th birthday bash for Edith, and there was a huge crowd of family, residents and staff, including the nursing students from Los Angeles Valley College.

The nursing students are particularly thrilled to join in Edith's 106th birthday celebration because she is a vivacious, smart-as-a-tack, young centenarian who represents an ideal healthy aging elderly population that they are learning about.

California is one of the top three states where many centenarians make their home, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Thus, perhaps it is not surprising to find the likes of fine young centenarians such as Edith, who is "too young" to join the "Supercentenarians."

Still, it is quite an extraordinary story to hear how Edith came to live at the Gardens.

The Gardens' Executive Director, Maru Cohen, reminisced that at a tender age of 101, Edith walked into Cohen's office and declared, "I decided that I can no longer live independently by myself anymore. I have been here a few times visiting my acquaintances and I like the setting. How much is it to move in? I have brought my check."

Nursing students from Los Angeles Valley College have found geriatric clinical experience at the Gardens at Park Balboa most rewarding. The opportunities to learn and the warm welcome they received from the Garden's residents and staff took them by surprise.

Then, they met Edith, who has a wonderful sense of humor, along with a host of other fine elderly folks with a wealth of life experiences. When the students found out that Edith would be celebrating her 106th birthday, they all wanted to join in the celebration.

Edith told me how she had a very special visit from the Social Securities Administration earlier this year. She told them, " I know why you came."

They told her that they were doing "routine survey."

Edith said, wryly, "Routine survey, my foot! They came to check whether I was still alive!"

She told me that she also had a driver's license that expired at age 97, and said, "I was a good driver, and I didn't hit anybody."

She happily showed me an early birthday gift she got from the daughter of resident there, a pink thong!

She also pointed to several family photos in her room, and said, "That's my second husband. He asked me to marry him on the phone because he lived in Delaware. So I said, 'yes' and lived there for six years. But they have snow there, you know, and I had lived in California. So after he passed away, I moved back to California, where my family was."

She loves her family most dearly, and told me about each person in the photo.

When asked how she managed to live so healthy for such a long time, she answered, "enjoy and appreciate life, and you must have a sense of humor."

She retired from Technicolor in 1968. Her job was to find errors on films at a speed of 90 feet a minute. I asked how she could catch any mistakes going that fast, she said, "You focus" and pointed to her head.

She said thanks to Technicolor, her medical insurance is Kaiser Permanente and she loves it. She said her doctor, Dr. Spencer, at Kaiser Panorama City always tells her, "I don't know what your secret is, but I'd like to find out."

She spends her time at the Gardens enjoying the various activities, plays bridge, does crossword puzzles, goes out to get her hair and manicures done, does her "exercises" and enjoys lots of reading.

Jennifer Chai, MSN, RN, is a clinical nursing instructor at Los Angeles Valley College.

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