My mother-in-law is a 'SuperAger' and has the memory of someone much younger. She says 3 things have kept her sharp at 104.
Mollie Ford is a " SuperAger," meaning she has impressive memory function and word recall.
Mollie was born in England on March 8, 1921, and was adopted at five months. As an only child, her parents took her to Nairobi, Africa, and she learned to speak Swahili. At 7, she returned to England and was enrolled in boarding school, where she actively played music and sports.
Sometime, during the next four years, she met her older cousin, Frank, whom she eventually married. The couple moved to Haifa and baptised their firstborn child in Israel. In 1953, the family sailed across the ocean to make a home in Canada.
Decades later, she became my mother-in-law, and I've had the opportunity to get to know her over the years. Recently, she shared her tips for living long and staying sharp with me.
Everything in moderation
Mollie told me she loves chocolate, but she has the willpower to restrict herself to only one square each evening with her cup of tea. It's impressive. The same is true of her one glass of wine (pinot grigio) with dinner.
She eats slowly and consumes fish, colorful vegetables, assorted nuts, and fruit for snacks. Mollie eats slowly and in moderation.
In her 80s, Mollie joined a gym to exercise a bit beside much younger people and took up clog dancing. She even tried the rowing machine, but decided it wasn't for her. Every morning, she tended her garden, fed a special mix to the birds, and offered apples to the deer who visited her.
Though she can't be physical anymore, Mollie still loves being out in nature. We try to slow down to feel it with her.
Brain function: use it or lose it
An avid reader, Mollie sped her way through books at twice my speed. Her love of historical fiction, a good story, and characters she understood made her hungry for more. Neighbors, friends, and family shared favorite books. Mollie always read, despite whatever was happening around her. I've tried and failed to have such deep concentration.
Sudoku and crosswords were her daily mental challenges. Mollie had an impressive vocabulary and credited crosswords. She worked on them so often that she began understanding the creators' patterns. Her speedy completion was impressive.
Mollie also played piano on special occasions at her church for decades and was an active member of the handbell choir.
These days, whenever she hears a moving piece of classical music, her eyes close and her hands conduct.
Connections matters
Mollie was a born leader who always organized church bazaars, family trips, and celebrations. I never knew her to procrastinate, and she was an impressive planner. Thanks to Nana, our families went on two cruises that created forever memories.
When I asked Mollie the reason for her longevity, she answered without a beat: family. She's proud of all of us and still stays up-to-date with our accomplishments.
Today, Mollie lives in a senior care facility because she's had a couple of falls and some memory loss. She shares a room with three other women, a testimony to her generous spirit. She still lives on the west coast of Canada, where the ocean's breeze and fresh air support her mind and body. Her legacy continues to enrich our lives.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Business Insider
a day ago
- Business Insider
My mother-in-law is a 'SuperAger' and has the memory of someone much younger. She says 3 things have kept her sharp at 104.
In June, my 104-year-old mother-in-law got a new battery for her cardiac pacemaker. A battery's typical life is 10 years, so you get an idea of her resilience. Mollie Ford is a " SuperAger," meaning she has impressive memory function and word recall. Mollie was born in England on March 8, 1921, and was adopted at five months. As an only child, her parents took her to Nairobi, Africa, and she learned to speak Swahili. At 7, she returned to England and was enrolled in boarding school, where she actively played music and sports. Sometime, during the next four years, she met her older cousin, Frank, whom she eventually married. The couple moved to Haifa and baptised their firstborn child in Israel. In 1953, the family sailed across the ocean to make a home in Canada. Decades later, she became my mother-in-law, and I've had the opportunity to get to know her over the years. Recently, she shared her tips for living long and staying sharp with me. Everything in moderation Mollie told me she loves chocolate, but she has the willpower to restrict herself to only one square each evening with her cup of tea. It's impressive. The same is true of her one glass of wine (pinot grigio) with dinner. She eats slowly and consumes fish, colorful vegetables, assorted nuts, and fruit for snacks. Mollie eats slowly and in moderation. In her 80s, Mollie joined a gym to exercise a bit beside much younger people and took up clog dancing. She even tried the rowing machine, but decided it wasn't for her. Every morning, she tended her garden, fed a special mix to the birds, and offered apples to the deer who visited her. Though she can't be physical anymore, Mollie still loves being out in nature. We try to slow down to feel it with her. Brain function: use it or lose it An avid reader, Mollie sped her way through books at twice my speed. Her love of historical fiction, a good story, and characters she understood made her hungry for more. Neighbors, friends, and family shared favorite books. Mollie always read, despite whatever was happening around her. I've tried and failed to have such deep concentration. Sudoku and crosswords were her daily mental challenges. Mollie had an impressive vocabulary and credited crosswords. She worked on them so often that she began understanding the creators' patterns. Her speedy completion was impressive. Mollie also played piano on special occasions at her church for decades and was an active member of the handbell choir. These days, whenever she hears a moving piece of classical music, her eyes close and her hands conduct. Connections matters Mollie was a born leader who always organized church bazaars, family trips, and celebrations. I never knew her to procrastinate, and she was an impressive planner. Thanks to Nana, our families went on two cruises that created forever memories. When I asked Mollie the reason for her longevity, she answered without a beat: family. She's proud of all of us and still stays up-to-date with our accomplishments. Today, Mollie lives in a senior care facility because she's had a couple of falls and some memory loss. She shares a room with three other women, a testimony to her generous spirit. She still lives on the west coast of Canada, where the ocean's breeze and fresh air support her mind and body. Her legacy continues to enrich our lives.
USA Today
09-07-2025
- USA Today
'She saved my life:' Houston woman lost to Texas flooding was selfless to the end
Randy Schaffer met his wife Mollie in June 1967, just weeks after they graduated from high school. They'd been together ever since, with two sons and several grandchildren. In the end, the Houston criminal defense lawyer wrote in a moving post on social media, only the raging waters of the Guadalupe River could separate them. In the early morning hours of July 4, the river swelled to historic and deadly proportions as heavy rainfall doused central Texas, producing massive flooding that so far has claimed the lives of more than 100 people, with at least 161 still missing. The floodwaters tore through homes, riverside campgrounds and hotels and a beloved Christian girls camp in Kerr County, where 27 children and counselors perished. In Hunt, Texas, where the River Inn Resort and Conference Center advertises its waterfront location as a "serene escape from the outside world," the surging Guadalupe swept through the complex, taking vacationing travelers by surprise. Among them were Randy and Mollie Schaffer. Mollie would not survive. Kent Schaffer, who like brother Randy is also a criminal defense attorney in Houston, described his sister-in-law as 'an incredibly nice person' who never had a bad thing to say about anyone and always followed through if someone asked for help. A devotee of the theater, she was an ardent arts supporter, he said. The Schaffer brothers, while Jewish, were not practicing, but Mollie, who had converted to Judaism, would nonetheless cook elaborate Passover dinners. 'She became more Jewish than all of us,' Kent Schaffer told USA TODAY. 'Everything she made was pretty. She didn't serve food in tin pans. It looked like a work of art.' Still, being a good person was Mollie's specialty, he said, a beacon of warmth who all the kids rushed to hug at holiday gatherings. 'People would say, 'she's a saint' – mostly because she could put up with all of us,' he said. 'Especially in a family of lawyers. We're very contentious, passionate people.' The weather had seemed fine, Randy Schaffer wrote on Facebook, when the couple turned in for the night on July 3 at the River Inn Resort, where they were marking their 46th year visiting the riverfront area with an ever smaller group of law school friends. 'They'd meet there every summer for an extended weekend,' Kent Schaffer said. 'It was always the same hotel. They'd float around the river and have barbecues. That's the way they'd stay in touch with each other.' Around 3 a.m. Friday, the couple awoke to loud banging on their door, Randy Schaffer wrote. It was the manager, telling them they had to evacuate immediately 'because the river was about to overflow the banks.' 'I looked out the window and saw the river raging like Niagara Falls,' he wrote. At the manager's direction, he wrote, they got into Mollie's SUV and began driving toward a nearby hill. Instead, they saw cars ahead of them turning around to rush back the other way. They stopped on the shoulder of the road as the water quickly rose around the vehicle, sweeping it into the current. The car hit a tree, he wrote, then spun onto the road again. 'We knew that we had to get out of the car,' he said. 'However, the doors wouldn't open.' Mollie lowered the SUV's front windows and told him to dive out feet first, he said. It was difficult; the seat was too low, the window too high. He fell back onto the seat. 'You have to push harder,' Mollie told him. Those were the last words he ever heard her say, he wrote. He pushed as hard as he could and went out the window. The current pulled him underwater toward the river, propelling him into a pole. 'I wrapped my arms around the pole and climbed up until my head was above water,' he wrote. 'I looked for and called to Mollie but didn't see her or the car. She had been swept into the river.' He held onto the pole for an hour until the water finally began to recede and his feet touched ground. His wife's body was recovered on July 6. 'Mollie died in a manner consistent with how she lived – selflessly taking care of someone else before she took care of herself,' Randy Schaffer wrote. 'She wouldn't leave the car until she was sure that I had done so. She saved my life.'
Hamilton Spectator
27-06-2025
- Hamilton Spectator
Fusion between culture and modernity as children dance in Kenya's refugee camp
KALOBEYEI, Kenya (AP) — Beads of sweat drip from the faces of young girls and boys as they dance to the rhythm of traditional drums and open calabashes, while their peers watch them in awe. These are refugee children, some who were born in one of Africa's largest camps — Kakuma, located in northern Kenya, where more than 300,000 refugees' livelihoods have been affected by funding cuts that have halved monthly food rations. The children use the Acholi traditional dance as a distraction from hunger and have perfected a survival skill to skip lunches as they stretch their monthly food rations that are currently at 30% of the U.N nutritional recommendation per person. The Acholi people, mostly from Uganda and South Sudan, are among refugees who live in Kakuma camp , which was established in 1992 as a safe haven for people fleeing conflict from dozens of east African countries. For a moment, the melodious sound of one of the refugee mothers stops the playground buzz of activity as dozens of children sit down to enjoy the traditional dance performance. The colorful swings doting the community center at Kakuma's Kalobeyei Refugee Settlement were donated by a Swiss organization, Terre des hommes, which still manages the playground aptly named 'Furaha' — Swahili for Happiness. But the happiness of these children isn't guaranteed now as funding cuts have affected operations here. Less resources and fewer staff are available to engage the children and ensure their safety. One of the dancers, Gladis Amwony, has lived in Kakuma for 8 years now. In recent years, she has started taking part in the Acholi traditional dances to keep her Ugandan roots alive. The now 20-year-old doesn't imagine ever going back to Uganda and has no recollection of life in her home village. 'I'm happiest when I dance, I feel connected to my ancestors,' the soft-spoken Amwony says after her dance session. While Amwony and her friends are looking for a cultural connection, just about 5 kilometers (3 miles) from their village in neighboring Kalobeyei Village 3, some boys are in touch with modernity. The five boys have been practicing a one-of-a-kind dance where they mimic robots, complete with face masks that hide their human faces. They make their sharp synchronized moves that they have been perfecting for months. The boys will be part of performances that will be showcased during this year's World Refugee Day, as an example of the talent and resilience that exists among the refugee community. This younger generation of dancers make precision moves in a small hall with play and learning items stored in a cabinet that is branded with an American flag, an indication that it was donated by the U.S government. Such donations are now scarce, with the United States having cut down on funding in March. These cuts have affected operations here, with the future stardom hopes for these children dimming by the day. The center, which previously featured daily programs such as taekwondo and ballet, may not be operational in a few months if the funding landscape remains as is. 'We are now reducing some of the activities because we are few. The staff are few and even per day we only have one staff remaining in the center and it is really hard for him/her to conduct 500 children,' said John Papa, a community officer for Terre des hommes in Kalobeyei Village 3. These programs do more than entertain the children — they keep them away from issues such as child labor, abuse and crime which as a major concern for humanitarian organizations in Kakuma. And as the children dance and play beneath the sweltering sun, the only hope is that these child friendly spaces remain operational for years. ___ For more on Africa and development: The Associated Press receives financial support for global health and development coverage in Africa from the Gates Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP's standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at .
