August 13, 2017

"I kept getting teased about dating a cougar. But the age difference never really bothered me because we just hit it off, and I wasn’t about to let her go."

Said the 94-year-old man who married the 98-year-old woman, quoted in the "Weddings" section of the NYT.
"Age doesn’t mean a damn thing to me or to Gert,” [Alvin Mann] said. “We don’t see it as a barrier. We still do what we want to do in life.”...

Last year, Mr. Mann became the oldest person to graduate from Mount St. Mary College... At 93, he drove 80 miles round trip twice a week for nearly two and a half years to accrue the 30 credits needed to obtain a degree he had started working on in his 70s....

“We studied many historical events like World War II and the Vietnam and Korean Wars, but this was stuff I had actually lived through,” Mr. Mann said. “No wonder I aced most of my exams.”...

“This man is 94 years old, and I see him outside chopping down trees, dragging logs out of the woods with his old Ford tractor, stacking firewood and cutting the grass,” [a neighbor] said. “Then I see him and Gert running around like two high school sweethearts, holding hands and kissing, and driving to New York City on weekends....”

24 comments:

richlb said...

"We studied many historical events like World War II...."

Studied, or lived through?

Bob Boyd said...

"I see him outside chopping down trees, dragging logs out of the woods with his old Ford tractor, stacking firewood and cutting the grass,”

Maybe you and Meade need to buy more land. Meade might be stifled caring for a small, urban yard.

rhhardin said...

They have good genes. Their kids will live forever.

Fernandinande said...

I know that, Mr. Mann!

Bad Lieutenant said...

Good thing they didn't meet when he was 20 and she was 16.

Trumpit said...

Now that he has a college degree in hand, he can start to look for his first job (as a college graduate). At some point, he may want to get a graduate degree because bachelor's degrees in history don't generally lead to high-paying jobs. He's only 94, so he has plenty of time. He may want to work for a couple of years before returning to school. Frankly, he may have trouble working in corporate America. The degree is essential, but there is a lot of age bias. From the company's cold-calculated perspective, they view employees as investments. Since the actuary tables don't give much hope for a long life/career, his hopes in corporate America are bleak. The couple should donate their bodies to science to try to explain their longevity. I would guess that they have sex zero times per week.

Etienne said...

The object of higher education, is not getting a degree in basket weaving.

Basket weaving, meaning shit you already know, and then paying someone for a worthless diploma to hang on the wall.

Lucien said...

I'm impressed. If I manage to live that long, all that I'll be is old.

campy said...

Good thing they didn't meet when he was 20 and she was 16.

Women really do age faster than men!

Darrell said...

I'd like to see that cost/benefit analysis.

Meade said...

" I would guess that they have sex zero times per week."

Depends on what you call sex.

Meade said...

"Good thing they didn't meet when he was 20 and she was 16."

Women really do age faster than men!

Arithmetic is hard.

Darrell said...

Good thing they didn't meet when he was 20 and she was 16.

Especially since she's 4 years older than him.

hawkeyedjb said...

I just attended my father's 97th birthday party. The local bluegrass band threw a big party for him. I got to meet his new girlfriend. Sadly, his previous girlfriend had died a year or so ago. It was good to see him happy with the new gal. The age difference is only a couple of years and they seem well matched. I hope it works out.

Big Mike said...

I had been feeling good about myself after meeting men younger than I am but who look and act older. But this fellow is more than two decades older than I am and acts younger. I'd go chop down some trees, but the only ones worth chopping down are in the nearby regional park, and park rangers might not be understanding.

Big Mike said...

(The bad LT's arithmetic is why they need sergeants.)

Bay Area Guy said...

Good for them! Old folks gotta get some lovin' too. Probably, of the X number of marriages this decade, maybe .00000001% had a bride and groom in their 90s. Again, nothing wrong with that - it's called an outlier.

The problem occurs when political folks - normally leftists - try to seize on the outlier to promote some artificial general principle.

LA_Bob said...

Either or both of these two can drop dead anytime (of course, we all can, but some are more likely to do so than others). Good for them that they can carry on so freely in their tenth decades.

Francisco D said...

My grandmother (now 101) was a similar cougar. My grandfather died 45 years ago and she eventually hooked up with a man several years younger. She refused to marry him because she only had one husband.

They were together over 35 years (living separately for the sake of appearance most of the time) until he went into a nursing home. She's about ready to do the same, but is way too stubborn to live her home.

They were a cute couple. As always, she was the dominant partner.

Francisco D said...

live = leave

damn autocorrect

jph62 said...

I'm in my late seventies and hope never to be half of a "cute couple."

Bad Lieutenant said...

Women really do age faster than men!

Arithmetic is hard.
8/13/17, 9:50 AM

Oh, bite my shiny metal ass, Meade 😝

Darrell said...
Good thing they didn't meet when he was 20 and she was 16.

Especially since she's 4 years older than him.
8/13/17, 9:50 AM


Yeah yeah OK when she was 20 and he was 16. Mea culpa.

It wasn't an error in math, it was stuck on the stereotype that the guy is older. Actually if she had been 20 and he 16 I'm sure nothing would have happened since women get all the breaks.

I admit I left myself wide open but isn't it true that a four year age difference matters bigly when young? Did that go over everybody's heads?

Bad Lieutenant said...


Blogger Big Mike said...
(The bad LT's arithmetic is why they need sergeants.)
8/13/17, 10:00 AM

No BM, it's more like go right! no, my right! Equally problematic for artillery practice, to be sure.

Meade said...

Half your age + 7 is the formula that always works. For example: You are 20 and she is 16. (20) X (.5) + 7 = 17. Too young. But wait 2 years: (22) X (.5) + 7 = 18. She's old enough.

The formula works equally well at the other end of longevity. Suppose you are 98 and she is 55. (98) X (.5) + 7 = 56. Too young. Wait 2 years: (100) X (.5) + 7 = 57. You're golden!