Centenarians

In the courtyard of a low-slung convalescent hospital west of USC, Gertrude Baines was inaugurated Sunday into one of the world's most exclusive sororities. She turned 114 years old. There was cake. Singing. Proclamations. Superlatives. Because only two other people in the world are 114. There is no one older.

Centenarians were rare in 1907, when Marshall Philip Welles was born. More people live to be 100 these days, but Welles still stands apart. For starters, he holds a valid California driver's license -- one of 183 people in his age group who do. In 2002, just 58 people 100 or older held a license. "I like the freeways better than the streets," Welles said in an interview. "Cars are coming at you from all directions on the streets, but only one direction on the freeway. I never go over 70 mph."

The world is getting older. Today, people over 60 make up about 11% of the world's population and are projected to make up more than 20% by 2050. But although that segment of the population is growing fast, accumulating even faster are the number of people living past 100. Why some people's lives can span four generations or more is still a bit of a mystery -- but as the world ages, scientists are beginning to unearth some clues.

After working for 76 years at public transit agencies, bus maintenance attendant Arthur Winston celebrated his first day of retirement and his 100th birthday Wednesday at a party in the cavernous Los Angeles MTA garage named after him. There to mark his achievements were about 400 colleagues, members of the media, schoolchildren and family. The Laker Girls cheered, "Go Arthur!" A Metropolitan Transportation Authority choir belted out gospel songs.

Interrupted during his morning walk, Manuel Picoita, 102, stopped to answer the question every visitor to this remote corner of the Andes asks: How do he and other residents live so long? "I get along with my neighbors," Picoita said with a smile. "There is tranquillity and solidarity among us." For Josefa Ocampo, 104, who lives with her son up the road a bit from Picoita, the secret is drinking a glass of goat's milk every morning, sometimes supplemented with a dose of her first morning urine.

Maybe it was a lifetime of chores on the family farm that account for Edna Parker's long life. Or maybe just good genes explain why the world's oldest known person will turn 115 on Sunday, defying staggering odds. During an early celebration of the event, Parker laughed and smiled as relatives and guests released 115 balloons into sunny skies outside her nursing home in Shelbyville. Scientists who study longevity hope Parker and others who live to 110 or beyond can help uncover the mystery of extreme longevity.

Marion Higgins is very good at remembering. She remembers writing her first book 10 years ago. She remembers moving into Seal Beach's Leisure World in 1989. She remembers the history of furniture acquired at long-ago garage sales and celebrating the end of the World War -- both II and I. She remembers hearing the Titanic had just sunk, and the long railroad ride to her family's homestead in a new state called Idaho. And she remembers hating sunbonnets.

A woman believed to be one of the city's oldest native residents marked her 109th birthday on Friday. Lucille Meyer said she planned to celebrate with members of her large family, which includes two children, 14 grandchildren, 20 great-grandchildren and a great-great grandchild, who was born in the fall. "I like the company," said Meyer, who lives with her daughter in Burlingame.

How did California's oldest woman get to age 112? Bacon and coffee in the morning, the Dodgers and an occasional cocktail before bed. Even before Elma Corning died in Hollywood on Monday, her health and longevity were the subject of wonder as well as an inquiry by a UCLA specialist on aging. What Dr. Stephen Coles found in Corning was a woman who acted as if no one ever told her that she was old.

The ego strokes keep coming for 101-year-old swimmer Viola Cady Krahn. She has demonstrated her signature dive on "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno." She once stood on the shoulders of the king of surfers, Duke Kahanamoku, as he rode the waves at Laguna Beach. And she learned last week that she is one of 15 people who will be inducted into the International Masters Swimming Hall of Fame in its inaugural year.