The Life Story of the World’s Oldest Man — Dead in Mont. at 114
- Posted on April 15, 2011 at 6:30am by
Jonathon M. Seidl
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GREAT FALLS, Mont. (AP) — Walter Breuning’s earliest memories stretched back 111 years, before home entertainment came with a twist of the radio dial. They were of his grandfather’s tales of killing Southerners in the Civil War.
Breuning was 3 and horrified: “I thought that was a hell of a thing to say.”
But the stories stuck, becoming the first building blocks into what would develop into a deceptively simple philosophy that Breuning, the world’s oldest man at 114 before he died Thursday, credited to his longevity.
Here‘s the world’s oldest man’s secret to a long life:
- Embrace change, even when the change slaps you in the face. (”Every change is good.”)
- Eat two meals a day (”That’s all you need.”)
- Work as long as you can (”That money’s going to come in handy.”)
- Help others (”The more you do for others, the better shape you’re in.”)
Then there’s the hardest part. It’s a lesson Breuning said he learned from his grandfather: Accept death.
“We’re going to die. Some people are scared of dying. Never be afraid to die. Because you’re born to die,” he said.
Breuning died of natural causes in a Great Falls hospital where he had been a patient for much of April with an undisclosed illness, said Stacia Kirby, spokeswoman for the Rainbow Senior Living retirement home where Breuning lived.
He was the oldest man in the world and the second-oldest person, according to the Los Angeles-based Gerontology Research Group. Besse Cooper of Monroe, Ga. – born 26 days earlier – is the world’s oldest person.
In an interview with The Associated Press at his home in the Rainbow Retirement Community in Great Falls last October, Breuning recounted the past century – and what its revelations and advances meant to him – with the wit and plain-spokenness that defined him. His life story is, in a way, a slice of the story of the country itself over more than a century.
—
At the beginning of the new century – that’s the 20th century – Breuning moved with his family from Melrose, Minn., to De Smet, S.D., where his father had taken a job as an engineer.
That first decade of the 1900s was literally a dark age for his family. They had no electricity or running water. A bath for young Walter would require his mother to fetch water from the well outside and heat it on the coal-burning stove. When they wanted to get around, they had three options: train, horse and foot.
His parents split up and Breuning moved back to Minnesota in 1912. The following year, as Henry Ford was creating his first assembly line, the teenager got a low-level job with the Great Northern Railway in Melrose.
“I’m 16 years old, had to go to work on account of breakup of the family,” he said.
That was the beginning of a 50-year career on the railroad. He was a clerk for most of that time, working seven days a week.
In 1918, his boss was promoted to a position in Great Falls and he asked Breuning to come along.
There wasn’t a lot keeping Breuning in Minnesota. His mother had died the year before at age 46 and his father died in 1915 at age 50. The Montana job came with a nice raise – $90 a month for working seven days a week, “a lot of money at that time,” he said.
Breuning, young and alone, was overwhelmed at first. Great Falls was a bustling town of 25,000 with hundreds of people coming and going every day on trains that arrived at all hours.
“You go down to the depot and there’d be 500 people out there all climbing into four trains going in four directions,” he said.
World War I was still raging in Europe, and Breuning, who had just turned 20, signed up for military service but wasn’t called up. He wanted to join an Army unit formed by Ralph Budd, who was the railroad’s vice president at the time and who later would become its president.
He sent Budd an application, and the reply was disappointing. Budd said Breuning couldn’t join the unit because he wanted the young man to get a college education. The war ended later that year.
“So I never got into the war. The war ended too quick for me,” Breuning said.
—
The 19th Amendment gave women the right to vote in 1919 and the nation was riding a postwar wave into the Roaring `20s.
Walter Breuning bought his first car that year.
It was a secondhand Ford and cost just $150. Breuning remembered driving around town and spooking the horses that still crowded the dirt streets.
“We had more damn runaways back in those days,” Breuning said. “Horses are just scared of cars.”
The year may have started well, but it went downhill fast. Drought struck. The price of hay skyrocketed and farmers had to sell their cattle. It was the first wave of agricultural depressions that would hit Montana over the next two decades.
The railroad started laying off people. Breuning had some seniority, so rather than losing his job, he was transferred to Butte. It was there he met his future wife, Agnes.
Agnes Twokey worked for the railroad as a telegrapher. She and Breuning worked the same shift in the office, and they got along well. Their friendship turned into a two-year courtship, and then they got married and returned to Great Falls.
Things were looking up for Breuning, Montana and the nation. Great Falls gave Montana its first licensed radio station in 1922. The following year, Jack Dempsey and Tommy Gibbons fought for the world heavyweight championship east of Great Falls in Shelby.
Breuning was optimistic. He and his wife bought property for $15 and planned to build a house.
Then it all went off the tracks. The Great Depression struck.
“Everybody got laid off in the `30s,” Breuning said. “Nobody had any money at all. In 1933, they built the civic center over here. Sixty-five cents an hour, you know. That was the wage – big wage.”
People began to arrive in Great Falls searching for work. He recalled transplants from North Dakota telling tales of desperate families pulling weeds from the ground and cooking them up for food.
Breuning’s seniority paid off again – he held onto his job. But he and his wife never built their house. They sold the lot for $25, making a tidy $10 profit. It turned out to be the only time Breuning ever owned property – he was renter for the rest of his life.
Despite the hard times of the decade, he said what he considered the nation’s greatest achievement came in 1935, when President Franklin Roosevelt signed Social Security into law as part of his New Deal.
“I think when Roosevelt created Social Security, he probably did the best thing for people,” Breuning said. “You hear so much about throwing Social Security out. Don’t look for it. Hang on to your hat. It’ll never go away.”
—
World War II lifted the nation out of its economic slump. Industry went into overdrive to support the war. With the men headed overseas to fight, the women took their places in factories.
Montana’s Jeannette Rankin, the first woman elected to Congress, was the sole vote against the U.S. entry into the war.
By that time, Breuning was in his 40s and too old to be drafted. So he kept working on the railroad.
The man who otherwise preached kindness and service to others acknowledged that he had mixed feelings about the war and the Nazis. He expressed some sympathy toward Hitler.
The war ended in 1945 when President Harry Truman dropped the atomic bomb on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The debate over whether Truman did the right thing was argued in the streets and cafes of Great Falls.
Breuning stuck up for Truman, saying there probably would have been a lot more people killed had Truman not made the decision to bomb the Japanese.
“I think he did pretty dang good,” Breuning said. “But you know, all presidents done something good. Well, most of them. Except that last one.”
Breuning, a self-described Republican, meant President George W. Bush.
“He got us into war. We can’t get out of war now,” he said. “I voted for him. But that’s about all. His father was a pretty good president, not too bad. The kid had too much power. He got himself wrapped up and that’s it.”
—
The 1950s brought rock-and-roll, put the U.S. in the middle of the Korean War and kicked off the space race with the USSR’s launch of Sputnik. The world was introduced to Elvis Presley, Fidel Castro and Sen. Joseph McCarthy.
For Walter Breuning, the 1950s was marked by the death of his wife. Agnes died in 1957 after 35 years of marriage. The couple didn’t have any children.
More than 50 years later, Breuning kept his feelings on his marriage and Agnes’ death guarded.
“We got along very good,” was about all he’d say. “She wouldn’t like to spend money, I’ll tell you that.”
Breuning never remarried. “Thought about it. That’s about it.”
He did what he always did. He kept working.
Work was a constant in Breuning’s life, what he did to get through the hard times and what he used to keep his mind active. One of the worst things a person can do is retire young, Breuning said.
“I remember we had a worker in the First National Bank one time retired early. He wanted to go fishing and hunting so bad. Two months (later) and he went back to the bank. He got his fishing and hunting all done and he wanted to go back to work,” Breuning said.
“Don‘t retire until you’re darn sure that you can’t work anymore. Keep on working as long as you can work and you‘ll find that it’s good for you,” he added.
The same year the Beatles released their first album, Breuning decided it was time for him to retire from the railroad at age 67. It was 1963 and he had put in 50 years as a railroad worker.
But he stuck by his philosophy and kept working. He became the manager and secretary for the local chapter of the Shriners, a position he held until he was 99.
But he remained a fiercely loyal railroad man, so loyal that he only took an airplane once in his life, and that was to attend the funeral of a relative in Minneapolis.
His beloved railroad underwent many changes soon after he left. In 1970 it merged with other railroad companies to become the Burlington Northern Railroad.
His fellow clerks began to feel the effects of technology. In the 1970s, computers started changing industries and the need for manpower. At the railroad, men and women were laid off at depots and freight offices. Superintendents and clerks like Breuning were given their walking papers.
But even with so many of his former co-workers out of jobs, Breuning was adamant that the rise of the computer was good for the railroad industry and the world.
“I think every change that we’ve ever made, ever since I was a child – 100 years – every change has been good for the people,” Breuning said. “My God, we used to have to write with pen and ink, you know, (for) everything. When the machines came, it just made life so much easier.”
—
Breuning had lived in a sparse studio apartment in the Rainbow Senior Living retirement center since 1980.
When he was recognized as the world’s oldest man and brought the retirement home some notoriety, he was offered a larger room. Breuning said no, Rainbow executive director Tina Bundtrock said in October.
Breuning would spent his days in an armchair outside the Bundtrock’s office in a dark suit and tie, sitting near a framed Guinness certificate proclaiming him the world’s oldest man.
He would eat breakfast and lunch and then retire to his room in the early afternoon. He’d visit the doctor just twice a year for checkups and the only medication he would take was aspirin, Bundtrock said.
His good health was due to his strict diet of two meals a day, Breuning said.
“How many people in this country say that they can’t take the weight off?” he said. “I tell these people, I says, ‘Get on a diet and stay on it. You‘ll find that you’re in much better shape, feel good.’”
He had no family left but a niece and a nephew. They visited a couple of times at the retirement home, but they were strangers to him, he said.
Breuning’s real family, his support group, was there in the Rainbow.
“Yeah, we’re all one big family, I tell you that. We all talk to each other all the time. That’s what keeps life going. You talk,” he said.
Breuning talked current affairs with the other residents. One of his main causes was to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“War never cured anything. Look at the North and South right today. They’re still fighting over the damn war. They’ll never get over that,” he said.
Along with debating others about the fate of the nation, Breuning also spent time a lot of time reflecting. Sitting in his armchair, he would reach back across the century and lose himself in a flood of memories that began with his grandfather’s Civil War stories.
He also thought about what might have been. After 97 years in Montana, Breuning said he thought back to his transfer to Great Falls back in 1913.
What course would he have gone on, how different would that century have been for him if he had stayed in Minnesota?
“Sometimes I wonder what would have happened had I not moved to Great Falls. I think about that once in a while. What would have happened?” Breuning said. “I had a good job back (in Minnesota). But life is good here too.”
But he didn’t regret anything, and he implored others to follow his philosophy.
“Everybody says your mind is the most important thing about your body. Your mind and your body. You keep both busy, and by God you’ll be here a long time,” he said.
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Comments (80)
garylee123
Posted on April 15, 2011 at 1:04pmGod bless
Report Post »2GodBeTheGlory
Posted on April 15, 2011 at 11:12amAlthough we are taught that we should respect our elders, I’ve found that a persons age does not give the person wisdom, nor has any bearing on the closeness of their relationship with God. Yes, he lived a long life, however, does that life hold any relevance to your walk with God, Jesus, or the Holy Spirit? Does his live offer you comfort and give Glory to God? Do you feel wiser because of your knowledge of him and his life?
I know of 16 year old‘s that have more wisdom than 80 year old’s I also know. Wisdom comes from God alone. Knowledge nor experience equates to wisdom. Jesus was less than a third of this mans age, do you think this man was three times wiser than Christ?
Report Post »ZOMBIE JESUS LOVES ME
Posted on April 15, 2011 at 11:18amExactly right … on all counts.
Report Post »trolltrainer
Posted on April 15, 2011 at 11:35amGod also tells us to respect our elders…Wise or not.
The man saw a lot of life and for that I respect him. I do not have to agree with him.
Report Post »2GodBeTheGlory
Posted on April 15, 2011 at 11:50am@ TROLLTRAINER:
Where and when does God say that we should “respect our elders”? It does say that we should honor our parents, however, that is not the same thing as respect.
Report Post »concealled9mms
Posted on April 15, 2011 at 11:07amfinally a story worth reading
Report Post »Jessica
Posted on April 15, 2011 at 10:37am@ZOMBIE JESUS LOVES ME
Posted on April 15, 2011 at 10:15am
So this old racist and Nazi sympathizer is dead? Good!
—Really? Respect your elders, even if they have opinions you don’t like. They have experienced more and you look like a real ass when you post unintelligent dribble.
Report Post »ZOMBIE JESUS LOVES ME
Posted on April 15, 2011 at 11:07amLady … sympathy for Hitler and the Nazis? Hello?
How can you overlook this?
Report Post »fitlyfguy
Posted on April 17, 2011 at 2:42amJessica… you’re an ass. More than likely, you will come back as an earthworm! My God!… you’re a waste of good air!!!
Report Post »Vital
Posted on April 15, 2011 at 10:35amMr. Breuning was a simple man,he never had children…that is why he lived so long.LOL
Report Post »Don’t get me wrong, I love my children…but they can age a person quick.
All in all, Mr. Breuning had a good life. A better life than my Grandparents who lived during the Great depressing.
I like the part about writing with pen and paper…I wish they still taught writing in the schools. Physical writing is so cool.
Nick Pable with Buckshot
Posted on April 15, 2011 at 10:23amOK, who are you and what have you done with the real Dawg of Gawd?
Report Post »Ghandi was a Republican
Posted on April 16, 2011 at 2:33amHere — http://www.whatup-dawg.com/
Report Post »BruceB
Posted on April 15, 2011 at 10:18amDawg you’ve got to be kidding. If not it’s time for you to find a new home.
Report Post »dawg of gawd
Posted on April 15, 2011 at 8:48pmWho are you talking to? I didn’t say anything. Seems like a nice old guy to me. I think you need to find a new (you know, real) outlet for your pent up rage (and anything else that is pushing against the dam, which I’m guessing is quite a lot). Until then, try to keep a grip on reality.
Report Post »mcFirst
Posted on April 15, 2011 at 9:34amSo he remembers a time before the Federal Reserve – wow. A time when the people controlled the currency in their pocket and not the global financial banks, the good old days.
Strange to know we are just a lifetime removed form the Civil war.
Report Post »Born2Run
Posted on April 15, 2011 at 9:24am”Every change is good”, my ass!
Report Post »TexasCommonSense
Posted on April 15, 2011 at 10:02amI doubt he meant “Hope and Change”
Report Post »deadbeatjoe
Posted on April 15, 2011 at 9:22amI hope to be so lucky.
Report Post »teddrunk
Posted on April 15, 2011 at 9:20amWant to bet next year Mr. Breuning will be voting for Obama by absentee ballot.
Report Post »trolltrainer
Posted on April 15, 2011 at 10:01amHeh no! No bet!
Report Post »Ironeagle
Posted on April 15, 2011 at 9:06amStrange, the old guy had nothing to say about our current PoS Pres we are now saddled with–or did the writer edit that out? Big emphasis on Social Security and how great it is …. “the nation’s greatest achievement came in 1935, when President Franklin Roosevelt signed Social Security into law as part of his New Deal”. “I think when Roosevelt created Social Security, he probably did the best thing for people,” Breuning said. “You hear so much about throwing Social Security out. Don’t look for it. Hang on to your hat. It’ll never go away.” The nation’s greatest achievement? Social Security? That’s bullsh_t! Sounds like its a talking point right out of the Obama playbook.
Socxial Security put the nation on the road to gov’t dependency. We’ll, one things for sure, Walter sure did get his money’s worth out of it.
Report Post »trolltrainer
Posted on April 15, 2011 at 9:59amMy wife works in nursing homes, you have to remember that these people have nothing to do except watch TV and talk together day in and day out. It is small wonder he had a negative reaction for GW.
I was amazed at what he said about SS myself, but remember, he lived before we had SS. He does have a different perspective than we do. I still disagree with him, but I am at least willing to think about it.
Report Post »Chi-Fawn
Posted on April 15, 2011 at 2:50pmIt’s not Social Security that is driving this nation to government dependence, it‘s a lot of the people who are on it that think it’s free money and who won’t use it to better themselves who are driving America to the poorhouse. Social Security is like anything else. It works when it’s done right. Walter’s generation was the one who did it right. A person can be just as broke by working too if they handle money wrong.
Report Post »randomtaxpayer
Posted on April 15, 2011 at 9:02amGood advice from a true expert on living, those who think that they have such a hard life should read this story.
Report Post »jollylama
Posted on April 15, 2011 at 8:59amGreat story, much wisdom
Report Post »TC
Posted on April 15, 2011 at 8:59amI like the thought process behind two meals a day. I may try it. I love to hear a persons story.
Report Post »UlyssesP
Posted on April 15, 2011 at 9:28amIt takes some getting used to. I’ve been at it for many years.
Report Post »Don’t forget to drink liquids.
Stevsea
Posted on April 15, 2011 at 8:59amA wonderful life!
Report Post »onegodinkansas
Posted on April 15, 2011 at 8:54am“I think when Roosevelt created Social Security, he probably did the best thing for people,” Breuning said. “You hear so much about throwing Social Security out. Don’t look for it. Hang on to your hat. It’ll never go away.”
Exhibit A: This is why the nation’s finances & govt. is in its current state. Everyone’s all for cutting spending ’til it affects their pocketbook today. Any proposal to gradually phase out Social Security frosts me, ’cause the current recipients & soon-to-be recipients voted all their lives to keep these SugarDaddy politicians in Washington @ the expense of our future.
Report Post »TC
Posted on April 15, 2011 at 9:00amI’ll second that!
Report Post »imreddog
Posted on April 15, 2011 at 1:30pmNot all of us! I’m 73, a Christian and a Constitutionalist. I don’t read anything in the Constitution that allows the government to steal money from one person and to give it to another person. I do get a SS check now, but I’m still working in construction and I will be working as long as my mind and body will allow me. I paid into the SS fund for years, so I figure the money is mine. I would have made a lot more than SS if I would have been allowed to invest the same amount of $.
Report Post »pattybbb1
Posted on April 15, 2011 at 8:53amVery good story of what sounds like a great guy. Thanks for posting. Good history lesson.
Report Post »ZOMBIE JESUS LOVES ME
Posted on April 15, 2011 at 10:28amYeah, he was a great guy.
Hey. You know who were even better guys? The Americans who fought in WWII, men who didn’t have any sympathy for Hitler and the Nazis!
Report Post »*PATRIOT*GAMES*
Posted on April 15, 2011 at 8:52amHow heartwarming that the authoer found a way to include some good ol’ fashioned Bush-bashing. Suck my ass. Bush was no conservative but NO President has ever sucked like the PoS we have now.
Report Post »trolltrainer
Posted on April 15, 2011 at 9:55amGo easy on him. I also took note of what he said about SS. I may disagree, but I did not live before it was created like he did. At worst we should at least respect his perspective. He lived a long time and saw many changes.
Report Post »Ironeagle
Posted on April 15, 2011 at 10:31amThe more I think about it, it’s likely that Gramps was manipulated for propaganda purposes by a pro-Obama writer. Think about it: (1) the greatest thing we’ve ever done as a nation was Social Security (think about Barry’s speech on the deficit making the same point, (2) Bush bashing, (3) total silence about the current worst-ever President in the history of the nation, (4) all change is good, (5) war never accomplishes anything
Report Post »trolltrainer
Posted on April 15, 2011 at 11:31amIroneagle,
Maybe…I don’t know, remember the man was 114 years old. There is not telling how muddled his thought process was. Maybe he was simply picking up on recent conversations he had. Again, that is all these people have to do; sit around and watch the news and discuss politics.
It is not important…
Report Post »jedi.kep
Posted on April 15, 2011 at 8:47amI love to hear the stories about what life was like. That bit about the horses being spooked by the new cars. LOL.
Report Post »CallMeIshmael
Posted on April 15, 2011 at 8:43amFair Winds Mr. B.
Report Post »Silent_Majority
Posted on April 15, 2011 at 8:43amVery good story…. We need more people like him.
http://www.geekspeak.net
Report Post »ZOMBIE JESUS LOVES ME
Posted on April 15, 2011 at 10:25amYeah. We need more Nazi sympathizers. Just want I was thinking.
[rolls eyes]
Report Post »blacksmith
Posted on April 15, 2011 at 6:59pm@zombie
Report Post »Maybe you should look at your earlier smart ass post and check your spelling.Moron. Take your own advice. Scumbag.
RexfordCS
Posted on April 15, 2011 at 8:34amWhat a great story, rest in peace Mr. Breuning.
Report Post »Dapper Dan
Posted on April 15, 2011 at 8:34amGreat story!
Report Post »travlman77
Posted on April 15, 2011 at 8:33amWow!
Report Post »Grasshopper42
Posted on April 15, 2011 at 8:44amThat just made my day!
Report Post »Stuck_in_CA
Posted on April 15, 2011 at 10:08amThank you, Jonathon. Wonderful piece. Talk about a full life. He made the most of it.
Report Post »ZOMBIE JESUS LOVES ME
Posted on April 15, 2011 at 11:12amWow. Mixed feelings about the war with the German, eh? Sympathy for Hitler?
Yeah, we’ve truly lost a great American.
Report Post »independentvoteril
Posted on April 15, 2011 at 11:16amKinda blows the idea that back in the day people died early doesn’t it?? in the west people seem to have harder lives and live longer.. my ancestors back in the 1800′s were living to 78-79.. they lived in ND.. but I have to say.. this story makes me feel better.. since when I was a kid I always said I was going to live to 105..
Report Post »Anonymous T. Irrelevant
Posted on April 15, 2011 at 11:22amI guess it’s true that “idle hands are the devil’s workshop.” Most of the people who lived a long time were people who stayed active.
Report Post »SlimnRanger
Posted on April 15, 2011 at 12:27pmAn amazing story I love setting down and talking to the elderly folks and hearing about their way of life way back when,Rest in peace Mr. Walter
Report Post »ZOMBIE JESUS LOVES ME
Posted on April 15, 2011 at 12:34pmI love sitting down and using using proper grammar and punctuation.
Report Post »anutter
Posted on April 15, 2011 at 4:10pmVery good piece. I could understand the sympathy for Hitler. Mr. Breuning was a working class man, and the Germans were hurting bad. Hitler was all for helping the working class out. Of course, that was before anyone knew him to be a madman.
Report Post »lindap1667
Posted on April 16, 2011 at 1:25pmMy aunt and uncle lived to be in their hundreds and my aunt was blind, couldn’t hear very well and was still pushing other people around in wheelchairs at the nursing home.
Report Post »ottodiedacktick
Posted on April 17, 2011 at 2:44pmThis is a great account of an “ordinary” man’s life through an extraordinary century. It read like a good short story.
Report Post »dhbld2011
Posted on April 21, 2011 at 10:12pmAmazing, & awesome reading.Iwas shocked to hear that some1 any1, whether a man or a woman was still alive.
Report Post »