No one has more memories than Jeanne Calment of Arles, France. She remembers when telephones were brand new: they were invented by Alexander Graham Bell in 1876, when Calment was one year old. She recalls visiting Paris as a child in the late 1880s and seeing the Eiffel Tower being built. She remembers the first rumblings of World War I in 1914. And she was already an old woman of 70 when World War II ended in 1945.
Last Tuesday brought another day to remember: at age 120 years and 238 days, Calment made it into the Guinness Book of World Records as the oldest person in recorded history. She beat the record of Shigechiyo Izumi of Japan, who died in 1986 at age 120 years and 237 days.
Calment says her achievement is no big deal. "It's not impressive at all," she said on her 120th birthday last March. "It's natural to grow old."
That's true, but consider this: the average American woman lives to be 79. Living 41 years beyond that makes Calment "the Michael Jordan of aging," says Dr. Thomas Perls, an expert on old age at Harvard University. "The chances of you or me getting to be her age are similar to our chances of playing basketball like Jordan," says Perls.
What's Calment's secret? It helps that both her parents lived long lives (her mother died at 86, her father at 93). Doctors believe living long may run in families.
Exercise and healthy habits also help. Calment was still riding her bicycle at 100! Sadly, a broken hip at 115 and loss of her eyesight now make it hard for her to get around.
Another key to long life is an upbeat spirit. Calment's sense of humor remains sharp. Asked to describe her future, the world's oldest woman quickly replied: "Very brief!"