by Jaffa » Sat Nov 20, 2004 9:08 pm
Yep, he lived about 15 minutes from my house. The local newspaper had this story:
On Dec. 1, 1890, Jack the Ripper was stalking London, Arthur Conan Doyle was drafting the Sherlock Holmes stories and Netti Hale was giving birth to a baby who would become the oldest man in the world.
That baby was Fred Hale Sr. He died Friday at The Nottingham in DeWitt at age 113 years, 354 days - 12 days shy of his 114th birthday.
Less than a month ago, he watched his favorite baseball team, the Boston Red Sox, win the World Series after 86 years. He was 27 when the Curse of the Bambino was cast - Babe Ruth was 23.
The world's oldest living man is now Hermann Dornemann, of Germany, age 111. There are 26
living women older than him, according to Gerontology Research Group, which monitors supercentarians.
Hale died peacefully in his sleep while trying to recover from a bout of pneumonia, said his grandson, Fred Hale III, age 51. From Saturday until Thursday, he was at Community General Hospital. By Thursday, he was sitting up, eating and feeling better. The hospital released him back to The Nottingham, he said.
Hale's granddaughter, Linda Vredenburg, fed him dinner and put him to bed Thursday night. He was conscious and feeling good, Hale III said.
At 7:30 p.m., Vredenburg called Hale III to give him an update on his condition. They laughed that the oldest man in the world pulled through again. Six hours later, the family got a phone call from the staff at The Nottingham who routinely checked on Hale throughout the night.
He had passed away.
"It's hard for the family, but it's nice for him," Hale III said.
Until his death, Hale was mentally sharp and physically healthy. Although nearly deaf and in a wheelchair, he never suffered a painful terminal illness. His grandfather died the way loved ones hope to see their elders die, he said.
Longevity runs in the Hale clan. Rarely do kin die before their 80s and 90s, he said. As a result, the younger four generations are not used to dealing with death the way other families might, he said.
Hale outlived three of his five children. He also had nine grandchildren, nine great-grandchildren and 11 great-great-grandchildren.
He was a simple man of routine before and after he retired 50 years ago as a railroad postal worker and beekeeper, his grandson said. He enjoyed gardening, canning fruits and vegetables and making homemade applesauce.
"He had a routine and he rarely broke it because anyone else was around," Hale III said. "He didn't need a lot to be happy."
He ate three square meals a day, always at the same time each day. Once in a while, he'd make an exception to the routine and have a slice of pizza.
At age 95, Hale flew to Japan to visit his grandson, Chris Hale, in the Navy. While en route back to the United States, he stopped in Hawaii. Donned in Hawaiian print shorts, Hale tried to boogie board. Apparently he wasn't a natural.
"He didn't make it very far, but he wanted to do it," Hale III said. "He was keen for things."
Hale was born in New Sharon, Maine, the same year as the Battle of Wounded Knee, when there were only 43 stars on the American flag. He married his sweetheart, Flora Mooers, before a justice of the peace, who was also his father-in-law, in 1910. She died in 1979 at 89.
After retiring, Hale worked for his daughter, Carolyn, at Lord's Lobster Pound in Maine, shelling lobsters in the morning and steaming clams in the afternoon.
He never smoked and rarely drank alcohol. He lived in his native Maine until he was 109, when he moved to the Syracuse area to be near his son, Fred Jr., now 82. At 103, Hale was still living on his own - and shoveling the snow off his rooftop.
A beekeeper most of his life, he ate a half spoonful of honey a day. He attended high school basketball games in South Portland, Maine, until age 107. He set the Guinness world record for the oldest driver. At age 108, he still found slow drivers annoying, his grandson said.
"He was never one of those ones to dawdle," he said.
Hale cut the cake at his 113th birthday party. On March 5, 2004, the Guinness World Records acknowledged him as the oldest living man when Joan Riudavets Moll, of Spain, passed away at age 114.
Hale's funeral will be Nov. 23 in South Portland, Maine.
Supercentarians, people 110 and older, are an elite club with only four male and 57 female validated living members, according to Gerontology Research Group.
Hale ranked about 81st for all-time longevity. The oldest man ever is believed to have been Shigechiyo Izumi, of Japan, who lived 120 years and 237 days before dying of pneumonia in 1986.
Being the grandson of a historic legend is surreal, Hale III said.
"I don't know if there is a legacy," he said. "He was a good person, stayed active, ate well and never said mean things about people."
What a life. 
