Category: How Old Were They

Varian Fry was 33 in 1940 when he snuck $3,000 into Nazi occupied France and facilitated the escape of 2,000 anti-Nazi and Jewish refugees. Among those saved by the U.S. journalist were Marc Chagall, Max Ernst, Marcel Duchamp, and Hannah Arendt. Fry was the first of five Americans recognized as “Righteous Among the Nations,” an honorific given by the State of Israel to non-Jews who saved many refugees during World War II. Read Who Cares? about the struggle for dignity at Woodruff Home for the Aged, “a lively place where old people go to die.” Learn more about the book and its characters, aged 9-90, in NOVELS.

“Righteous” Varian Fry helped 2,000 refugees escape the Nazis

Woodruff Home for the Aged, a lively place where old people go to die

Théodore Chassériau at age 15 became the youngest painter ever exhibited in the Louvre. He was a Dominican-born French Romantic painter known for portraits, historical and religious paintings, and Orientalist images inspired by his travels to Algeria. A prolific draftsman, he made a set of prints illustrating Shakespeare’s “Othello” and his 1834 portrait of Prosper Marilhat was hung in the world-famous museum. Driven to exhaustion while completing a series of commissions, he died at age 37. Read Who Cares? about the struggle for dignity at Woodruff Home for the Aged, “a lively place where old people go to die.” Learn more about the book and its characters, aged 9-90, in NOVELS.

A portrait created at age 15 made Chasseriau the youngest painter exhibited in the Louvre

Woodruff Home for the Aged, where aging with dignity battles corporate greed

Wilson founded Alcoholics Anonymous at age 40. An Army veteran and businessman who struggled with depression and alcohol, he crashed five years after the 1929 stock market and checked into a hospital, where he overcame drinking through the spiritual principles propounded by the Oxford Group. Several years later, tempted to drink again, he contacted a fellow patient, surgeon Robert Smith. Their five-hour conversation led them to found AA in 1935. After a Saturday Evening Post article about AA in 1941, the organization took off in popularity. Today, AA has more than 2 million members worldwide. Read Who Cares? about the struggle for dignity at Woodruff Home for the Aged, “a lively place where old people go to die.” Learn more about the book and its characters, aged 9-90, in NOVELS.

Bill Wilson, the founder of Alcoholics Anonymous helped himself, which now helps 2 million members worldwide

Woodruff Home for the Aged, a lively place where old people go to die

The 124 Munchkins in the 1939 movie The Wizard of Oz were mostly adult actors with pituitary dwarfism. Only ten, aged 7 to 9, were children of normal height. The youngest non-child, Margaret Pellegrini, was 16. The oldest little person, Meinhardt Raabe, was 24. [Note: My novel A Brain. A Heart. The Nerve. is a fictional biography of Raabe, who played the Munchkin coroner.] Toto the dog was five. Read Who Cares? about the struggle for dignity at Woodruff Home for the Aged, “a lively place where old people go to die.” Learn more about the book and its characters, aged 9-90, in NOVELS.

All but 10 of the 124 Munchkins were adults with pituitary dwarfism

Woodruff Home for the Aged, where aging with dignity battles corporate greed

A fictional biography of the actor who played the Munchkin Coroner

John A. Roebling was 63 when he designed the Brooklyn Bridge, the longest suspension bridge in the world at that time. Born in 1806 in Prussia, Roebling emigrated to the U.S. at age 25. Work on the span began in 1869 and was completed in 1883. Tragically, the architect died from a tetanus infection during the bridge’s construction, but his son, Washington Roebling, finished the project. Read Who Cares? about the struggle for dignity at Woodruff Home for the Aged, “a lively place where old people go to die.” Learn more about the book and its characters, aged 9-90, in NOVELS.

John A. Roebling, the Brooklyn Bridge architect, died before the project was completed

Woodruff Home for the Aged, a lively place where old people go to die

Nils Bohlin was 38 when he designed the harness seat belt in 1958. He was working for Volvo when he came up with the seat belt model that has saved millions of lives. Lap belts had been around for nearly a century, but his three-point system (shoulder, chest, and lap) was a major improvement. After some initial resistance from drivers who resented being told what to do, even for their own good, Bohlin’s seat belt became standard equipment around the world. Read Who Cares? about the struggle for dignity at Woodruff Home for the Aged, “a lively place where old people go to die.” Learn more about the book and its characters, aged 9-90, in NOVELS.

Harness belt more effective than lap belt at preventing injuries and saving lives

Woodruff Home for the Aged, a lively place where old people go to die

Judy Garland was 16 when she was cast as Dorothy Gale in The Wizard of Oz, 17 when the movie was released in 1939. Born Frances Ethel Gumm into a vaudeville family, she began performing at age two with her older sisters. At 12, she signed with MGM, where she made 27 of her 34 films. Her long career earned Garland an Academy Award, two Grammys, and a posthumous Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. Her personal life was a struggle however, and she died of an accidental overdose at 47. Read Who Cares? about the struggle for dignity at Woodruff Home for the Aged, “a lively place where old people go to die.” Learn more about the book and its characters, aged 9-90, in NOVELS.

The iconic singer-actress was successful on screen but troubled in life

Woodruff Home for the Aged, a lively place where old people go to die

Henry Dunant was 73 when he won the first Nobel Peace Prize in 1901. Appalled at the suffering he witnessed during the Second Italian War of Independence, he published a book, A Memory of Solferino, and proposed that the nations of the world form their own relief societies to care for the wounded and train volunteers to treat them. Dunant helped to found the International Committee of the Red Cross in 1863, at age 35, and launch the first Geneva Convention in 1864, which has since saved the lives of millions of soldiers worldwide. Read Who Cares? about the struggle for dignity at Woodruff Home for the Aged, “a lively place where old people go to die.” Learn more about the book and its characters, aged 9-90, in NOVELS.

First Nobel Peace Prize winner helped found International Red Cross

Woodruff Home for the Aged, a lively place where old people go to die

Charles Feltman, age 30, is credited with inventing the hot dog on a bun in 1871. After a modest beginning selling sausages from a pushcart, the German-American went on to establish a large restaurant complex on Brooklyn’s Coney Island that included a beer garden and carousel, and served millions of customers annually. Nathan’s hot dog stand, which sold nickel franks on the boardwalk, was opened in 1916, 45 years later, by Polish immigrant Nathan Handwerker, who originally worked for Feltman. Read Who Cares? about the struggle for dignity at Woodruff Home for the Aged, “a lively place where old people go to die.” Learn more about the book and its characters, aged 9-90, in NOVELS.

30-year-old Charles Feltman invented hot dog on a bun in Coney Island 45 years before Nathan’s opened

Woodruff Home for the Aged, a lively place where old people go to die

In 2002, Aiden Byrne at age 22, was the youngest chef to earn a Michelin star, while working at Adlards restaurant in Norwich, England. Since then, he’s run his own ventures and cooked at other noted restaurants across the UK. Byrne refuses to be pigeon holed, but says be cooks with British, seasonal produce in the classical way he’s been trained. He does admit to a favorite ingredient — globe artichokes — which can be “robust and delicate at the same time.” Read Who Cares? about the struggle for dignity at Woodruff Home for the Aged, “a lively place where old people go to die.” Learn more about the book and its characters, aged 9-90, in NOVELS.

The youngest Michelin-starred chef is a fan of globe artichokes

Woodruff Home for the Aged, a lively place where old people go to die