The last of his kind

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My wife’s uncle passed away today. He was 97 years old, born in Cleveland Ohio, he joined the Army when he was just a kid, a WW2 veteran, fought in the Battle of the Bulge and had nightmares about it for the rest of his life. Worked for the Post Office for 30 years, retired at 55 and was retired for 42 years!
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Did what he wanted his whole life, ate what he wanted , drank what he wanted ( red wine every day with the occasional whisky sour ) and for the most part was healthy as a horse right up until the end. And he was one heck of a nice guy. 😉

Godspeed Joe Provatere ! You had a good run and there’s not many like you left!
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Mailman said:
My wife’s uncle passed away today. He was 97 years old, born in Cleveland Ohio, he joined the Army when he was just a kid, a WW2 veteran, fought in the Battle of the Bulge and had nightmares about it for the rest of his life. Worked for the Post Office for 30 years, retired at 55 and was retired for 42 years!
Season 8 Wow GIF by The Office


Did what he wanted his whole life, ate what he wanted , drank what he wanted ( red wine every day with the occasional whisky sour ) and for the most part was healthy as a horse right up until the end. And he was one heck of a nice guy. 😉

Godspeed Joe Provatere ! You had a good run and there’s not many like you left!
Greeting Us Army GIF by GoArmy
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Nice to hear he enjoyed his later life. A salute for his war efforts. Ads.
 
toglhot said:
A good, well deserved innings. We should all be that lucky in life!
But I got to ask, am I the only one that thinks it wierd being the same age as old people. Not 97 and will never get there, not with this body anyway, maybe a body transplant is the answer!
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Mailman said:
😆 No…..you’re not alone. I see people my age and I never think of myself as being as old as them!
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Huh.
Strange, I'm not the same age as some of the old bastards I bump into, then I realise I am.
There's some around here much older than me who you'd think were still in their 30s, but others were born 40 and seem to have got worse.
 
Mailman said:
😆 No…..you’re not alone. I see people my age and I never think of myself as being as old as them!
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When I was a teenager, I thought 70 was ancient and for a lot of people in the 1960's, it WAS ancient. Nobody on either side of my family made it past 72 in my parent's and prior generations.

Now I'm 72 and other than some annoying aches and pains, I really don't feel a lot different than I did at 40. My oldest brother is 88 and still in good shape mentally and pretty decent shape physically. Some of that is lifestyle, a lot of it is modern medicine and some of it is just dumb luck.

I doubt I'll still be riding if/when I reach 80, but it's at least a possibility I'd have never considered when I was 20!
 
Downeaster said:
When I was a teenager, I thought 70 was ancient and for a lot of people in the 1960's, it WAS ancient. Nobody on either side of my family made it past 72 in my parent's and prior generations.

Now I'm 72 and other than some annoying aches and pains, I really don't feel a lot different than I did at 40. My oldest brother is 88 and still in good shape mentally and pretty decent shape physically. Some of that is lifestyle, a lot of it is modern medicine and some of it is just dumb luck.

I doubt I'll still be riding if/when I reach 80, but it's at least a possibility I'd have never considered when I was 20!
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I forgot to mention that my wife’s uncle Joe was also married for 74 years! o_O

As far as longevity goes, it’s funny, most of my relatives were farmers from Missouri and Iowa, they were mostly built like bears, eating fried food with lots of butter and gravy! 😆 Long life spans weren’t exactly common. But I’ve got a few centenarians in my gene pool also. If you ask me though, living to be a hundred is a curse not a gift.
 
Mailman said:
😆 No…..you’re not alone. I see people my age and I never think of myself as being as old as them!
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I'll occasionally catch sight of myself in a mirror at a store and think to myself, "Who's that fat old guy looking at? Oh, shit, that's me"

I still feel like I'm early 20's, except for the times like these, and when I try to do stuff I could easily do at 22 and then pay for it for the next 3 - 5 days. Gotta stock up on ibuprofen!
 
I'm 72, I beat my Oldman who died at 70 from memory. My sister died a few months ago at 74. But my grandmother died at 84, she was run over by bus when half way through a five mile walk. Grandad died in his 50s, so, pretty much a mixed bag.

I was diagnosed with lung cancer five years ago, had my lung removed, didn't work, the cancer came back. So underwent radio and chemo, didn't work, it came back. So, underwent more aggressive radio, didn't work, it came back. Currently waiting on the oncologist to decide what's next, he wants more radio, but with only one lung and three lots of radio scaring I find myself out of breath walking up hills, steps and so on. So, not keen on more radio. He's told me that chemo is only for prolonging life. So, in a bit of a quandary on what to do.

The funny thing is, despite being a heavy smoker for 30 odd years, I had very good lungs, before having my lung removed they were measured at 120 percent, I used to do laps of the pool - underwater. Now I have trouble walking up steps.

Aside from the breathlessness, fused fingers, multiple joint replacements and pain from the RA, I feel OK, not quite ready to join Elvis yet, besides that, I can't sing, so Elvis wouldn't be ecstatic on me joining him.

Without treatment I may get 2-3 years, with treatment, based on history, it'll come back again and when it does, there is no further treatment I can undertake. So I may make another 5 years.

I'd like to beat my sister, which I probably will, but I'd also like to beat my older brother, but not holding my breath.

I have more bikes to build, so not keen on leaving yet.
 
Mikey said:
:geek: DE Attitude and a bit of medical help will go a long ways in keeping you upright
You have that what can I do next attitude gong for you which will keep you going
Even a little bit of I wonder if I do this ..... Works
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Staying busy, both physically and mentally, is absolutely key. I think that's a big part of what took my father. He farmed full time AND worked a 40 hour week (nights) in a factory from WW II to his retirement in 1975.

Then he moved to Arizona and sat on his ass for 3 years.

And @toglhot , sounds to me like you're tougher than a baked owl. Hang in there, Buddy!
 

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