fredag den 26. april 2013

Ursula Krigger, Skt. Thomas 1902-

Her en omtale af en angiveligt 111-årig kvinde født i Dansk Vestindien inden kolonien blev solgt til USA i 1917:

http://virginislandsdailynews.com/news/oldest-virgin-islander-celebrates-111th-birthday-1.1477093


Oldest Virgin Islander celebrates 111th birthday


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ST. THOMAS
Ursula Krigger, known to her family and friends as "Aunt Sula" and widely believed to be the oldest living Virgin Islander, turns 111 today.
She is blind and hard of hearing, but her mind is sharp, and she remembers all of her very long and happy life in the Virgin Islands.
At a special church service and birthday party Saturday, she was celebrated by her family and fellow Moravians at the Nisky Moravian Church.
Sitting in front of her birthday cake, surrounded by her family and friends, Aunt Sula closed her eyes and grinned as everyone sang "Happy Birthday."
Born Ursula Nathalia Magdalane Millin in 1902, she was the second of eight children - all of whom she has outlived. Her last surviving sibling, Una Davis, died about one month ago, Aunt Sula said.
What turned out to be a long life was almost cut short as a child, however.
When she was 12, Aunt Sula was stricken with typhoid fever and almost died.
"They didn't expect me to live," she said.
Thanks to the care provided by her family and doctor, Knud Hansen, she recovered after a monthlong illness.
She said Hansen was very proud about that and always remembered her.
"He would tell all the other doctors about how he saved my life," she said.
Aunt Sula still lives in the Estate Neltjeberg house that her mother had built for her family in the early 1900s. Although her blindness keeps her largely housebound, she has memorized about 25 phone numbers and calls her family daily to check in, relative Gwen Moolenaar said.
Aunt Sula takes no medication, and has no health conditions or diseases other than arthritis.
"She's just hearty," Moolenaar said. "And she has a raucous sense of humor."
Aunt Sula is actually part of the Moolenaar family; her grandfather was a German named Moolenaar who settled in what was, at the time, the Danish West Indies.
"Many of the people who are here today are here to represent their parents and grandparents, her contemporaries," Moolenaar said.
An educator by profession, Aunt Sula began teaching young children when she herself was only 15 years old. She became a Moravian after becoming a teacher at the Moravian school when she was 17.
Born a Dane, Aunt Sula clearly remembers the 1917 transfer of the territory from Denmark to the United States.
"We were in school then," she said. "Some of the people were crying. I didn't know what to say because I was so young."
She taught school until she was married in 1934 to the late Laurence Krigger. She retired from teaching to raise her two sons, Alaric Krigger and Ashton Krigger.
Lillian Moolenaar said that as children they would call her "Aunt Sulee."
"She really raised us. And she always made sure we had a cup of coco tea, hot chocolate, and a slice of bread with butter before we went to bed," Lillian Moolenaar said.
When asked the secret to her extraordinary long life, Aunt Sula simply says, "I don't know."
However, she did say that her mother had a "cultivation" or garden. Not only did it feed the family, but her mother would take produce to the market to sell, she said.
Other than that, God's blessings have kept her in good health, according to her grandson, Sean Krigger.
- Contact reporter Aldeth Lewin at 714-9111 or email alewin@dailynews.vi.

lørdag den 20. april 2013

Anna Nielsen, Canada 1904 -

En danskfødt kvinde har fejret sin 109-års dag i den canadiske provins British Columbia:

http://www.theprovince.com/news/Health+tips+from+Langley+Anna+Nielsen+Porridge+sunshine/8197689/story.html


Health tips from Langley’s Anna Nielsen, 109: ‘Porridge and sunshine’

 

 
 
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Health tips from Langley’s Anna Nielsen, 109: ‘Porridge and sunshine’
 

LANGLEY, B.C.; APRIL 04, 2013 --Great granddaughter Shannan Hickey helps Anna Nielsen celebrates her 109 th birthday with family and friends at the Langley Garden Retirement Home in Langley on Thursday April 04, 2013. (Les Bazso / PNG staff photo) ( For Glenda Luymes story )

Photograph by: Les Bazso , PRV

She was born on a Saturday, a few months after the Wright brothers first took flight.
She grew up during the construction of the Panama Canal.
When she was eight, the Titanic sank.
Langley’s Anna Nielsen turned 109 this week. The centenarian celebrated her birthday Thursday with music and a sheet cake at a party attended by two of her daughters, several grandkids, great-grandkids and a great-great-grandson.
“I feel really fortunate to have my mom at this age,” Anna’s 73-year-old daughter, Lula Hepperle, told The Province. “When I count the blessings in my life, she’s one of them.”
A great-great-great Grandma five times over, Nielsen has lived in Canada since 1927, when she moved from Denmark to New Brunswick with her husband, Aage. From there they moved to a farm in Ontario, and finally, in the 1940s, settled in Vancouver.
She took a cleaning job at the Orpheum Theatre, but often told her six children stories about life on the farm, growing vegetables and making butter.
She was a practical mother, said Hepperle. “She always said worry never gets you anywhere.”
She was frugal, but a good cook. She loved cards, didn’t drink, but smoked for a time. “She always told us she didn’t inhale,” said her daughter with a laugh.
In 1989, Aage died. The couple had been married 62 years.
Although Nielsen does not talk very much any more, she is beloved by fellow residents at her care home, where she greets each one by taking a hand and kissing it. At her party, she sat quietly as her family used their cellphones to take pictures of her wearing a pink birthday crown.
So what’s the secret to her longevity?
“She always told me: Eat your porridge, and get out into the sunshine,” said her granddaughter Shannan Hickey.
“I didn’t like it as a kid, but I eat porridge now.”
B.C.'s oldest residents:
The B.C. Vital Statistics Agency does not keep records on the province’s oldest residents, except to note their passing.
However, according to the online Gerontology Research Group, Canada’s oldest living person calls B.C. home. Merle Barwis is 112 years old, and she’s listed among 57 verified supercentenarians (people aged 110 and older) in the world.
There are dozens of other international supercentenarians whose ages have not been completely verified.
According to GRG, the world’s oldest living person is a Japanese man, Jiroemon Kimura, aged 115 years. He must live seven more years to surpass the world’s oldest person, France’s Jeanne Calment, who lived to be 122 before her death in 1997.
 
 


Read more:http://www.theprovince.com/news/Health+tips+from+Langley+Anna+Nielsen+Porridge+sunshine/8197689/story.html#ixzz2R1ih5pDL