These Oklahoma volunteers make sure people who turn 100 are celebrated: NPR

Paula Naylor pushes her father, Paul Romanello, with his wheelchair on December 21 in Tulsa, Okla. Romanello was recently celebrated by Oklahoma centenarians when he turned 100.

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Paula Naylor pushes her father, Paul Romanello, with his wheelchair on December 21 in Tulsa, Okla. Romanello was recently celebrated by Oklahoma centenarians when he turned 100.

Michael Noble Jr. for NPR

Gloria Helmuth has seen the joy of what it means to be 100 years old. She’s not there herself – she’s 82 – but over the years she’s helped pay tribute to hundreds of centenarians. And it gave her a unique insight into what it really means to live to be 100.

There are the obvious health challenges, for starters. And most of the time, it can be downright lonely. Loved ones – like spouses, friends, even children – may have gone years, even decades, before a person turns the century mark.

“I just think it’s important that they know someone cares about them,” Helmuth said. “And that’s the reason for our existence.”

Helmuth is the director of an all-volunteer group called the Oklahoma Centenarians. Their mission is simple: to honor anyone in the state who is 100 years of age or older.

Gloria Helmuth (left) and Sue Scott of the Centenarians of Oklahoma pose for a portrait Dec. 21 in their Tulsa office. Since his Founded in 1991, the group claims to have honored more than 2,700 centenarians and counting.

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The United States globally has more centenarians than any other country, and thanks to medical advances and lifestyle changes, its population is growing. According to the Census Bureau, about 90,000 centenarians live in the United States today, nearly three times as many as 40 years ago. In 40 years, that number could reach nearly 600,000.

In Oklahoma, there are believed to be about 500 people aged 100 or older, according to Oklahoma Centenarians. Since his Founded in 1991, the group claims to have honored more than 2,700 people and counting.

“We travel all over the state,” says Sue Scott, chair of the organization’s board of directors and one of the volunteers who organize its tribute ceremonies. “Our oldest person just passed away last year… she was 112.”

Two more are set to become supercentenarians next year – 110 years old. “They have stories to tell,” Scott says.

Gloria Helmuth shows an example of the plaque the group presents to those who are 100 or older. In Oklahoma, there are thought to be about 500 people alive today who are 100 years old or older.

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Tribute to the state’s “Golden Oakies”

A typical tribute ceremony includes a short biographical sketch of each new centenarian, as well as some anecdotes the group has collected after more than 30 years of operation. Scott might point out, for example, that more than 80% of the centenarians they’ve honored are women, or that the highest percentage of centenarians are in Japan. Each new inductee receives a certificate and a “Golden Okie” pin.

“We’ve done it in every situation. We’ve done it in bars and garages, outdoors and indoors,” Scott says. “And during the pandemic, we did it through the windows – we were standing outside and the old people were inside. Either way, it works.”

Each new inductee receives a “Golden Okie” pin as part of the celebration.

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Scott says she was even asked to pay homage to centenarians on their deathbeds.

“I believe they can hear us, because one man in particular was shaking hands with his son who was standing there next to him when I was reading some things about him,” Scott says. “I think he understood some of it.”

There is also an academic side to the group’s work. When a centenarian dies, volunteers take the biographical information they have gathered and send it to Oklahoma State University’s Edmon Low Library for researchers studying centenarians. The information is also shared with the Oklahoma Historical Society.

The importance of honoring

One of the group’s newest inductees is Paul Romanello, who was born in New York’s Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood in 1922, when Warren Harding was president.

Talking to Romanello is like stepping back in time. He can tell you how, as a child, he baked potatoes on the street of what is now Midtown Manhattan. Or how he says he memorized the eye exam to join the army in World War II. If he hadn’t, he might have missed the USO ball where he met the love of his life.

“She had a passion for dancing,” Romanello recalls. “In her last days, she was still saying, ‘Paul, dance with me. Dance with me.'”

Paula Naylor is one of Romanello’s five children. She says the past few years have been difficult for her father. He lost his wife in 2015 after 70 years of marriage. He stayed with them for a few years, but eventually moved into an assisted living facility. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Naylor says he was pretty much isolated from the world.

Paula Naylor poses with her father, Paul Romanello. “He seemed very happy that he was getting all this attention, and he knew he had finally turned 100,” she says of her reaction to being honored by Oklahoma’s centenarians.

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“We noticed that he was a bit different not being able to interact with people, because he was a very sociable Italian,” says Naylor.

But his 100th birthday celebration, held last month at a senior community in Tulsa, gave his father something to look forward to.

“It was good,” Romanello says of his celebration. “I thought it was good.”

“When we rolled him into the library and the whole family was there, he was so excited,” Naylor said. said. “He seemed very happy to get all this attention, and he knew he had finally hit 100. And that’s what he had been talking about for months.”

words of wisdom

Helmuth, the director of Oklahoma Centenarians, says it’s stories like that that’s what it’s all about.

“It’s the things that make our day, that make it worthwhile for us,” Helmuth says. “The few of us who do this are lucky enough to be able to work with centenarians.”

Over the years, the organization’s volunteers have collected words of wisdom from centenarians on how to live a long and full life.

Some give practical advice, such as “eat your vegetables” or “work hard and save money”. Others are more philosophical, like “don’t worry about what you can’t change” or “seek the good in everything”.

Then there’s one of Helmuth’s favorites.

“A lady just wrote ‘keep breathing,'” she laughs. “She has a good sense of humor. She’ll be fine.”

Paul Romanello was born in the Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood of New York in 1922. He met his wife of 70 years at a USO dance. “She had a passion for dancing,” he says.

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