The Delany sisters, who both lived well past a century achieved fame with their book, Having Our Say memoir, which inspired a Broadway play and television movie. There's a certain pride, too. A 100th birthday ften warrants a photo and article in the hometown paper. Centenarians promise to be even hardier if they avoid those life-ending diseases. There are discoveries researchers haven't explained.
Centenarian women outnumber men, but are sicker and more frail.
Women who have a child after 40 are five times as likely to reach the century mark than other women. Centenarians are all races. Some farm, others surf the internet. A comfortable, wealthy, pampered life doesn't necessarily guarantee long life. Children of slaves have lived to 100.