Growing up poor kept me alive, says 107-year-old

US centenarian Helen Berhhardt turns 107 Thursday 26 August. She has received over 100 cards to commemorate her wonderful birthday, which she celebrated on Sunday with her friends and family all arriving from across the USA. They included her children, grandchildren, great grandchildren and great great grandchildren who all came to wish her a happy birthday.

Mrs Bernhardt said proudly: "You should have seen the crowd here. I didn’t have any trouble getting along with people. You can make friends or you can get rid of friends, but if you are a friend, you’ll be OK.”

Helen was born Helen Kucera in Western, USA, the daughter of Czech immigrants. Her family did not stress education, so she arrived at school unable to speak a word of English. Being Helen and determined, she soon picked it up so that after a year her teacher who taught her English said that her pupil "was the smartest kid I ever had".

What really played a major factor in her healthy longevity was her lifelong poverty which meant she had to work hard and maintain a positive, tough outlook. As she says: "The thing is how you were raised before you were four or five years old. I knew how I was growing up. I liked green food and I liked to be outdoors.”

This feisty older lady recalls: “I was poor my entire life. My dad had to grind the wheat and the corn so we could make cornmeal bread and that’s what we lived on. You learned to eat what you had because there was nothing else to eat."

That was probably some of the healthiest food to eat for a long and healthy life! Helen also recalls enjoying such simple staples as walnuts and dried apples.

Mrs Bernhardt married twice but her husbands passed away early in the marriages which meant she has been single and independent for most of her life. In fact, they died before managing to pay for her wedding rings!

Asked her true opinion on the factors contributing towards a long and healthy life she simply declared: "there is no secret".

"You just have to live a good life and hope for the best," she concluded.

A history of family longevity does seem to play a major part. Mrs Bernhardt's sister lived to be 99, her uncle to 105 and her cousin to 110. It is probably all due to a combination of healthy genes and a healthy and positive lifestyle.

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