Jul 18
‘World’s Oldest Blogger’ Dies at 108
Olive Riley found her blog “mind-boggling,” her great grandson says. It allowed her to make friends from around the world and maintain contact with people who were fascinated by her stories of growing up in the early 1900s.
“She enjoyed the notoriety — it kept her mind fresh,” he told a news agency.
And fresh it certainly seemed to be. She recalled in clear detail life at the turn of the century — the last one, that is. Born in 1899, (can you imagine?!?) she shared her thoughts about modern life and living through two world wars and raising three children. Though her mind remained sharp, she didn’t actually type up her blog, The Life of Riley. Her vision wouldn’t allow her to do the typing, but she had help in getting her stories transcribed.
“You 21st century people live a different life than the one I lived as a youngster in the early 1900s,” she wrote in a recent post about how laundry was done by hand. Her very first post of slightly more than 70 described a visit to see relatives she hadn’t seen in 80 years, and she jokes of being the target of too much attention from well-wishing relatives went so far as to tie a bell on her walker so they would know if she got up in the middle of the night:
“We’ll, I was so sick of that bell, that one night I got th idea of stuffing a sock in it so I’d have some peace and quiet. But you know, when I got to the bathroom, I must have bumped something because that bell rang again and there they all were ‘Nana’s up! Nana’s up!’ And then it was the landing instructions. ‘Back you go now, Nana, lower yerself down, now. That’s the spot’ O Gawd.”
Another recent post encouraged her readers to sing happy songs, advice Riley herself took to heart in one of her final YouTube videos:
If we ever make it to 108, we’d be lucky to be as sharp as she is. The same can be said if we make it even to 88!
I’m sorry I missed Olive. I’d have loved to leave her a comment that she might have heard read to her by one of her caregivers. I hope she’s still looking down here seeing what people who’ve just now found her have to say.
July 18th, 2008 at 9:18 am
I ran across Olive a couple of years ago, when she was “only” 105 or so. What a great inspiration. I work with someone who is 96 and it keeps me honest, except I keep forgetting that she was a teenager at the height of the Roaring 20s!
She has the same positive, gloriously delighted attitude as Olive. I think that’s the Big Secret, actually….
July 18th, 2008 at 11:54 am
I wasn’t aware of Olive, so this was quite a revelation. Thanks!!
July 19th, 2008 at 6:18 am
I’m BAAAAACCCCCK.
What’s with “She likes the notoriety”? I know you’re quoting from her “blob.” Do they really think she likes being famous for a bad reason? Infamous and disreputable are synonyms for notorious.”She is enjoying her moment of fame” would be more accurate.
July 19th, 2008 at 9:32 am
Quite true, Mrs. L. Or, he should have said, “She enjoyed having an audience.” But since it was a direct quote, I just ran with it as it was. Lots of people, I suspect, don’t know the difference, unfortunately.
I run across lots of people who try to use “infamous” in place of “famous” and think there’s nothing wrong with that, either. It even happened once about a month ago in my newsroom. (That time I DID raise a fuss and it got fixed.)
July 22nd, 2008 at 5:51 pm
Now that’s a great story. I wouldn’t mind living that long if I could be assured that I was healthy and could do mostly for myself.