100 Centenarians
As you can see, I’m a little short. This is a work in progress. I’m only collecting people with some sort of history tie-in. And largely people who have popped up in my reading. I’ve started this meager post with the plan to fill it in as I encounter new people to add.
I have no idea how to sort this list. But age? Alphabetically? By height (which, I believe, would put Dale Pontius first at 6’ 4”)? In order of their death? For now, I’m going with plain old jumbled list. If you have any thoughts about the organizational structure or centenarians to add, leave a note in the comments.
Jimmy Carter / 1924-2024 / 100 years old
(Our first presidential centenarian!)Lena Derriecott Bell King / 1923-2024 / 100 years old
Henry Kissinger / 1923-2023 / 100 years old
George Shultz / 1920-2021 / 100 years old
Alf Landon / 1887-1987 / 100 years old
Hamilton Fish III / 1888-1991 / 102 years old
Albert Henry Woolson / 1850-1956 / 106 years old
Dale Pontius / 1906-2011 / 104 years old
Françoise Gilot / 1921-2023 / 101 years old
Bob Hope / 1903-2003 / 100 years old
Queen Elizabeth (The Queen Mother) / 1900-2002 / 101 years old
Clarence Petty / 1905-2010 / 104 years old
Jimmy Carter
1924-2024 / 100 years old
First president born in a hospital
Went on long runs with Willie Nelson
Helped prevent a nuclear disaster in Canada, exposing himself to the maximum amount of radiation
Longest post-presidency — 43 years!
Told his son “I’m only trying to make it to vote for Kamala Harris.” And he succeeded!
Lena Derriecott Bell King
1923-2024 / 100 years old
Joined the WAC (Women’s Army Corps) at 20 years old
Member of the “Six Triple Eight", the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion during World War II
The only all-Black, all-women unit to serve overseas during the war
Died a few days before her 101st birthday
I learned about her watching The Six Triple Eight. This is all I’m going to say about her, because I don’t want to spoil the movie. Here’s the trailer. Just watch it. It’s incredible.
Henry Kissinger
1923-2023 / 100 years old
Came to the U.S. to escape the Nazis
Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford’s Secretary of State
Furious when Richard Nixon, following a landslide re-election, forced his entire staff to submit their resignation
Rosaylnn Carter once served him water from a Tweety glass and was mortified
Complicated legacy
The Last of the President's Men, by Bob Woodward
First Women: The Grace and Power of America's Modern First Ladies, by Kate Andersen Brower
George Shultz
1920-2021 / 100 years old
Secretary of Labor and Secretary of the Treasury under Richard Nixon
Secretary of State under Ronald Reagan
Said “he who walks in the middle of the road gets hit from both sides.”
On the Theranos board (along with Kissinger, who he recruited); his grandson was the whistleblower
Alf Landon
1887-1987 / 100 years old
H.L. Mencken said of him that he “probably knows less than the Honorable Mr. Roosevelt, but much more of what he knows is true.”
Eleanor Roosevelt was tickled when handed a Landon campaign button. No idea if the person knew who she was or not.
On Landon’s wishy-washiness and lack of positions, Burton Wheeler said, “After a careful study, I conclude that Governor Landon is in favor of good health, sunshine, a temperate climate, and a long happy life. I do not wish to misquote him. I believe he is in favor of sunshine, but only when accompanied by adequate precipitation, a temperate climate, but one sufficiently bracing, a long and happy life, but not too long nor too happy.”
Well, he lived to 100. I’m not sure if that’s long or too long. And I’m not sure if the level of happiness was sufficient without being excessive.
Hamilton Fish III
1888-1991 / 102 years old
Hated FDR, or rather, as he said “I don’t hate Roosevelt — but frankly, I despise him.”
Not a fan of FDR distributing relief and said, “one cannot beat Santa Claus with a Communist boogyman.”
To be honest, I don’t know much about him… but peeking the teeniest bit into him is horrifying. Note to self: listen to Ultra again. Or read Prequel: An American Fight Against Fascism.
Albert Henry Woolson
1850-1956 / 106 years old
Last living Union vet and last known known Civil War vet.
While under General Grant’s command, he was wounded at the Battle of Shiloh.
Speaking of Grant, the same decade that Woolson died the USPS launched the “Liberty Series” of postage stamps which included not Grant — but Robert E. Lee, because what the frick. Also, Eisenhower hung a portrait of Lee in the Oval Office.
Dale Pontius
1906-2011 / 104 years old
Student in Germany during Hitler’s rise
On General MacArthur’s staff in the Pacific Theater during World War II
Heckled Senator Joe McCarthy and was arrested for “disorderly conduct.” He later said “I am alarmed at what seems to be creeping fascism in this country.”
Got arrested again for protesting the Vietnam War (wearing a sign that said something like “Impeach LBJ”)
Part of a group of professors who resigned together after the school tried to cap the number of Black and Jewish students admitted
When interviewed at 100, he said “I’ve never regretted saying what I thought was right.”
Continued to take the stairs to his third floor walk up!
From When Harry Met Pablo: Truman, Picasso, and the Cold War Politics of Modern Art by Matthew Algeo
Françoise Gilot
1921-2023 / 101 years old
French painter
In a long-term relationship with the philandering Pablo Picasso
When she left him, he was piiiiissed (even though he was seeing someone else at the time)
He told her “Even if you think people like you, it will only be a kind of curiosity they will have about a person whose life has touched mine so intimately.”
She wrote a bestseller about their relationship
He disowned their two kids
Gilot eventually married Jonas Salk, who came up with one of the original polio vaccines
Oh, and one of her paintings sold for $1.3 million. Suck on that, Picasso.
From When Harry Met Pablo: Truman, Picasso, and the Cold War Politics of Modern Art by Matthew Algeo
Bob Hope
1903-2003 / 100 years old
Comedian
Joked during the 1944 White House Correspondent’s Dinner: “Mr. Roosevelt has been president so long that when I was a boy my father said to me, ‘Bob, maybe some day you will grow up to be vice president.’”
Queen Elizabeth (The Queen Mother)
1900-2002 / 101 years old
Married to King George VI
Mother of Queen Elizabeth
Clarence Petty
1905 - 2010 / 104 years old
Conservationist, Forest Ranger in the Adirondack Forest Preserve
Loved his job so much he called it a “paid vacation”
Said, “I lived for 100 years. After that, I only existed.”
Both my very first presidential sketchbook and my most current (as of March 2024) have a spread with two centenarians! It should be noted that both Dale Pontius and Françoise Gilot were both deceased and past the 100-year-mark when I drew them. And when I doodled about George Shulz and Henry Kissinger, there were both alive and not 100.
