About one of every four 65-year-old Americans today will live past age 90, and one of 10 will live past age 95, according to the United States Social Security Office. But according to a Health at a Glance report by the
About one of every four 65-year-old Americans today will live past age 90, and one of 10 will live past age 95, according to the United States Social Security Office. But according to a Health at a Glance report by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, 80.1 is the life expectancy when analyzing data from 34 countries.
Four Kauai bridge players with a combined age of 364 years play together every Thursday in the Sun Village Community Room. Their secrets to a long life are plentiful.
“Life is full of lots of laughs and lots of tragedies in between,” said 91-year-old Kauai bridge player Terry Fein. “You need to take the bad things in stride.”
“Have an attitude of gratitude,” says her fellow bridge player, 93-year-old Sheila Honeywell.
“Don’t eat in excess,” advises 90-year-old card enthusiast Sinclair Coghill.
“My doctors said as long as I play tennis and bridge, I won’t have to worry about Alzheimer’s,” said 90-year-old Lolita Horney.
The doctor’s orders must be working for Horney. She finished third in the Poa Lua and North Shore Bridge Club games on Thursday with her partner Doug McCalla. Honeywell came in second place with her partner Patti Moore. But it’s not all about winning when it comes to their weekly bridge games.
The four nonagenarians share several common denominators: all have lost their life partners, all have sharp minds and all love playing bridge.
“Bridge is an incredible game. If you learn bridge you can go anywhere in the world and you’re accepted,” Fein said.
Honeywell played a sanctioned bridge game with Bill Gates about 10 years ago at a condo clubroom tournament in the state of Washington.
“He was friendly,” Honeywell remembers.
Coghill lost his wife Lorraine six years ago. During his career with the Royal Canadian Air Force, life was filled with unexpected excitement and challenges.
“I worked search and rescue to save people lives in North American,” Coghill remembers. “When I was overseas as a pilot I flew 30 troops to Jidda for their pilgrimage to Mecca. Then I came back later to return them to Gaza where they were operating at the time.”
Fein also has fond memories of her younger days with her successful music publishing husband Hal Fine.
“I lived in a wide world. I had an exciting life,” Fein said. “We used to have parties at our home in New York with Frank Sinatra and Perry Como.”
Their publishing company won critical acclaim in the music world with such titles as “Strangers in the Night,” and “Spanish Eyes.” But the hectic lifestyle became stressful and Hal had a heart attack at age 47.
“The doctor told him, you have to find a way to relax,” remembers Terry. “Hal said I’m not going to collect butterflies. How about the race track?”
His doctor had another suggestion: play bridge.
“It saved his life,” Terry said. “He found that when he played bridge he couldn’t think of anything else and it relaxed him completely.”
For Horney, bridge brings back memories of playing bridge with her Mom and Dad in Oklahoma during the Depression.
“We had nothing,” Horney recalls. “Playing bridge with my parents were my happiest days back then.”
And today, she plays for fun and to earn her Bridge Life Master designation, a goal her fellow Kauai bridge players are helping her to accomplish.
“I play at least two days a week and sometimes every day,” Horney said.
When she’s not playing bridge, she works on her genealogy.
“I’ve learned I’m a descendent of three of the original immigrants who came over on the Mayflower,” Horney said.
The Kauai players remember the days when they used to play with103-year-old Anna Sloggett, the generous Kauai native who lived until she was 104.
“She chastised Sinclair for making a mistake one time,” Lenda Helser, a regular in the Thursday morning game recalled with a laugh.
One of the younger players, Sarah Rogers at the sprite young age of 69, said she plays for fun, especially since the players are somewhat evenly matched. One of Roger’s biggest discoveries at the weekly games is certain.
“I’ve learned we can play bridge forever,” Rogers said.
Forever, for some players, means long after they’ve died, at least in Honeywell’s anticipation of the afterlife.
“I was born in Glascow, Scotland so I want to have bagpipes played at my funeral,” Honeywell explained.
She wants her remains co-mingled with her husband’s ashes that she has saved since he passed away 12 years ago. After the distribution, she hopes attendees will take up a game of bridge in her honor.
For Helser, the game is an intellectual challenge.
“It keeps your mind sharp,” Helser said. “And it’s my best place to make friends and socialize.”
And besides being a place to sharpen their skills and minds, Horney said it’s important to always laugh. That is, when they are not in the midst of a heated tournament, needing to focus.
“And be lucky,” added Horney.
She considers herself lucky, except on a recent trip to the supermarket when her American Express credit card was denied.
“I was lucky I had enough cash with me,” recalls Horney.
When she called the credit card company afterwards they told her, “We had a report you were dead,” she said with a laugh and a twinkle in her twinkling bright blue eyes. “It took me a while to convince them otherwise.”
• Lisa Ann Capozzi, features and education reporter can be reached at lcapozzi@thegardenisland.com.
