I took this pic of my mother last week at a family gathering. She's 104. Her mind is still 100% intact. However, only days after this photo, she suffered a major stroke that's not survivable. She's semi-comatose and totally paralyzed on one side. She won't last more than a few days to a week or so. She's been a solid Christian for 75 years and has had a great run.
So, what has a person of her age seen?
Covid and all the dirty politics behind it (she's hard core red)
all the middle east wars
Vietnam
Korea
WWII (Dad was navy and was stationed stateside the entire war so she was able to be with him for most of it)
the great depression (her parents lost a farm because of the dirty dealings of the banks)
the time of the famous criminals - Bonny and Clyde, Scarface Capone, John Dillinger, and all the rest
the change of America from candles and firewood to electricity
the change from horses to cars
the change from a handful of barnstormers to men on the moon
the scourge of polio and the defeat of smallpox
the Spanish flue that killed between 50 and 100 million people
she was born during WWI
In between these events, she saw all the crazy politics, both good and bad, that have culminated in where we are today. She saw the great society, the fall of Nixon, and the murder of Kennedy
She originally got a 2 year teaching certificate and taught in a 1 room school with students in 5 grades. In about 65 she got her bachelors degree in education. She kept going and earned a Masters degree in special education. When she retired, she was the senior and highest paid teacher in the Boise, ID school district.
She's going to missed by a lot of people.