Welcome to the 7th in our series on centenarians. Marie-Louise Meilleur. I noticed that 3 of the top 10 names start with “M”, and my name is Michael, so I hope that’s a point in my favor.
Marie-Louise lived from August 29, 1880 to April 16, 1998, a total of 117 years, 230 days. She is #5 on the list of all-time longest-lived people and did once hold the title of the oldest living person. She is the only one of the top centenarians from Canada, and when she was told that she was the oldest person in Canada, she said “Poor Canada!”. To me, that means she enjoyed her life and wished more people could live longer.
She was born in Kamouraska, in Quebec, and died in Corbeil, which is 250 miles north of Toronto. Her father was a fisherman and hotel manager. She was educated at a convent.
Married at age 20, her husband was a fisherman who died 11 years into their marriage. She had 4 children with him, and 6 with her second husband, a lumberjack and forest ranger. Of her 10 children, only 4 outlived her. At the time of her death, she had 85 grandchildren, 80 great-grandchildren, 57 great-great grandchildren, and 4 great-great-great grandchildren. I had to get out the calculator for this one, but I believe that comes out to 238 descendants when she died.
She was a smoker, but, importantly, I think, she quit at the age of somewhere between 90 and 102 (sources disagree) when she caught a cold. She made headlines once when she tried to find a wife for her 81-year-old son.
Quality of Life:
Marie-Louise spent her final years in nursing home, but one of her sons actually lived in the same nursing home at the time of her death. At around the age of 117, she became too weak to talk and could only hear if someone shouted into her ear. She was reportedly almost blind as well from 1989.
Diet:
Little is known about what Mrs. Meilleur ate, but she liked wine.
Her secret for longevity:
“Hard work. Hard work never kills a person.”
What do we learn?
I wouldn’t put much stock in her smoking, and perhaps that had something to do with her being in a nursing home. And she lived quite a few years after quitting smoking, which indicates that quitting is a very good idea.
References:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oldest_people
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie-Louise_Meilleur
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1998-apr-18-mn-40557-story.html
Weight 7-day Avg. (change since Jan 2018): 211 (-66)
Workout time: 0 Minutes
Total Distance (total since Nov 2017): 0 Miles (464.04)
Steps: 3,246
Muscle Mass 7-day Avg. (change since Aug 2018): 156.29 (+13)
Body Fat 7-day Avg.: 26%
Daily Sleep Duration 7-day Avg: 5 hours
2019 Goal: 15% Body Fat