Pegged Out: 114-year-old Mary J. Ray

From The Boston Globe:
"Almost until the end, Mary Josephine Ray would take song requests, crooning traditional Acadian tunes from her childhood and Tin Pan Alley standards. From her New Hampshire nursing home, she played cribbage with a youthful zeal, tallying every point herself. At 106, she shrugged off hip replacement surgery like she had skinned her knee.

She said the rosary, watched her soaps, and cheered on her beloved Red Sox. Hershey’s Kisses were always close at hand. Sometimes, so was a dainty snifter of port.

Ray, who died in her sleep Sunday at the age of 114, had been widely acknowledged as the oldest person in the United States and the second-oldest person in the world. As she climbed the ranks of the world’s most aged, she would say she owed her longevity to God alone. But another reason, her family believes, was that she welcomed each day with gratitude and wonder..."

Full article here.

Cribbage on the inaugural trail...

From The Boston Globe:

"...A few hours later, a band of graying liberal activists from Cambridge rode a train to Washington in a more subdued mood. Playing cribbage and sipping scotch, they listened as Susan Stockard recounted being a 15-year-old seated near John F. Kennedy when he took the oath of office in 1961. The travelers agreed they were once again on their way to another transformational moment in history..."

Full article