Minnie O'Donnell of Phoenix has distinct memories of her family's 1903 trip in a covered wagon to relocate from an Arkansas farm to homestead land in the Oklahoma Territory. She was 5 years old. That was quite a trip. We had to pack the wagon with all of our cooking equipment, food for the horses, and our own food and clothes. It took about a month, I guess, and we slept on the ground with our bedding.
Centenarians have a clear sense they are living repositories of history.
I've seen presidents starting with Teddy Roosevelt. Powell vividly recalls the excitement of tuning a primitive crystal radio set made from a wooden cigar box to hear a live jazz broadcast from Cherie's Night Club on Baltimore's Howard Street in the early 1930s. But the nation's eldest elders also are quick to say they haven't lived so long by only looking backward. They may have slowed down, but they vow they will not stop soon. I like to go to the gambling halls.