ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, August 18, 1996 TAG: 9608190093
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-11 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: SAN RAFAEL, CALIF.
SOURCE: MATTHEW YI ASSOCIATED PRESS
CHRISTIAN MORTENSEN is said to be the world's oldest living man. But he wants to be the oldest living person.
Christian Mortensen still smokes about a cigar a week and tells some pretty good stories.
With champagne and Danish pastries, he celebrated his 114th birthday Friday at a nursing home surrounded by 30 friends.
``This is a good party,'' said Mortensen, who dressed up for the occasion in a tweed jacket, blue shirt and red tie.
And he's looking forward to many more. This native of Denmark, said by one researcher to be the world's oldest living man, wants to break the record and become the world's oldest living person.
Mortensen said he plans to beat the longevity record currently held by 121-year-old Jeanne Calment of France.
And how does he plan to do that?
``It's true, you got some birthdays. But you also got some deaths,'' he said. ``And that's how you catch up.''
Mortensen's friends greeted him one by one as he sat in a large chair while a pianist played classical music in the background. They wished him good luck by speaking into a microphone attached to a pair of headphones he wears because he is hard of hearing.
But when his friends sang ``Happy Birthday,'' he heard them just fine. He waved a small Danish flag with his right hand, while holding a cigar in his left.
A nursing home administrator says he smokes a cigar a week, but he couldn't take a single puff at the party: A city ordinance forbids smoking inside public halls.
Still, he was happy with the celebration.
Mortensen was born in Denmark in 1882 and, at age 21, came to the United States in historical fashion - through New York's Ellis Island in 1903.
The retired tailor has outlived most of his relatives - at least the ones he can remember. He has a niece in Denmark, who is about 78 years old.
No one really knows what his secret to longevity is, but many were quick to offer their own theories.
Joanne Maxwell, administrator of Aldersly Retirement Community, said he drinks a lot of water.
``He talks about this well in his home in Denmark where he used to drink all the time,'' he said. ``Whether that's a fountain of youth for him, I don't know.''
John Wilmoth, a demographer at the University of California at Berkeley who spent months studying Mortensen, said proving his age was made easy by researches in Denmark who dug up his birth certificate, immigration records and even census documents.
``The next closest male competitor that we know about is a man who is 111 years old and that's fairly documented,'' Wilmoth said.
``He still has a sense of humor. He still has a mind that can think clearly.
``He tells me some wonderful stories sometimes.''
As to breaking the world's record for being oldest person alive, Mortensen's doctor says he in good shape.
``There's no deterioration in his health this past year," Dr. Victor Rosenoer said. "He's essentially on no medication.
``Maybe that's his secret - staying away from doctors.''
LENGTH: Medium: 71 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. Greta Storck, 81, hugs Christian Mortensen, whoby CNBsmokes a cigar before his 114th birthday party at a retirement home
in California.