THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, March 9, 1996 TAG: 9603090421
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY ANNE SAITA, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ELIZABETH CITY LENGTH: Long : 119 lines
She remembers the excitement of talking on newly invented telephones, the Wright Brothers' first flight and a national Spanish flu epidemic that wiped out small towns and cities in the 1910s.
Augusta Whitehead Foster has memories of events that to most Americans are part of history lessons.
And she recalls, too, her own triumphs and travails, like the time she stepped in for an ailing singer at a Fourth of July program in Enfield, N.C. It was 1912.
Live entertainment was popular in those days, and what seemd like the entire population of Halifax County was watching when the 16-year-old belted out the last lines of ``The Star Spangled Banner'' - well ahead of the other, slower singers in the group.
``I got through singing before they did - and I wanted to die,'' ``Gussie'' Foster said of her most embarrassing moment, 84 years ago.
Foster has since managed to stay in step - and in tune - with the world.
And today she will celebrate her 100th birthday with a gathering of friends and family from across the country.
``I feel surprised, amazed, that I have reached this age,'' she said Friday, sitting in the living room of her Woodstock apartment, her tiny body dwarfed by a blue recliner.
``I can hardly believe it myself.''
Foster joins the growing ranks of triple-digit-aged Americans who are helping to redefine our concept of ``old age.''
There are now more than 52,000 U.S. centenarians, and their number keeps growing. The 85-and-over crowd is one of the fastest-growing age groups in the country, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
About half of those 100-year-olds-and-older live in nursing homes, while many others require assistance from home health groups or relatives. That makes Foster, who still lives quite independently, even more unique.
``She looks after herself. She lives alone,'' said her daughter-in-law, Mattie Meade Foster, who is 71.
The younger Foster said she helps her mother-in-law with heavy housework once a month, but the elder woman still cooks, cleans and bathes by herself.
Recent circulatory problems in her legs have slowed Foster's mobility, and she's lost about 6 inches of her 5-foot height over the years, but Foster is still as alert as people half her age.
Foster admitted that she watches too much TV on the 36-inch screen in her tidy, one-bedroom apartment.
``I'm the original couch potato.''
But the Elizabeth City woman essentially is living the life we all hope to have, said Shirley Brown of the Gerontological Society of America in Washington, D.C.
``I think there have been a lot of studies to say it's not necessarily a goal to live to be 100, but to be in excellent shape. The goal is to reduce the amount of time you might be in ill health and needing assistance,'' said Brown, the editor of ``Gerontology News,'' a professional newsletter.
The concept of living as long as possible on one's own is called ``aging in place,'' and it may help account for the increase in healthy, able-bodied people living to 100 and beyond.
``People who live to be 100 and remain healthy and active have a good attitude about life,'' said Ted Bobrow, manager of media relations for the Washington-based American Association of Retired Persons.
``They have, of course, experienced hardships and traumatic events in their lives,'' Bobrow said. ``But they have been philosophical about it and been able to weather them.''
The eradication of diseases, such as tuberculosis; the development of penicillin and other infection-fighting medicines; a better understanding of the human body and fitness; and improved sanitary conditions have all contributed to people living longer.
There are, of course, other factors, particularly genetics.
Foster is not the only member of her immediate family to reach 100. An older brother died at 103, and a sister lived to be 101. Foster said she has a cousin that was 105 the last time she checked.
Twelve of the family's 13 children survived their mother, who lived to be 93. Their father died of pneumonia at 82.
In the late teens of the new century, Augusta Whitehead was working as a telephone operator when she met a railroad worker named Ralph Emerson Foster.
``He walked home with me, and we walked hand-in-hand ever since,'' she said of her husband, who died in 1966.
The couple had a son, Ralph Emerson Foster Jr., who died of leukemia at age 36, leaving behind his wife, the former Mattie Meade Alexander of Nixonton, and two small children.
Those children, Ralph Emerson Foster III, now 42, and his sister, Susie Harris, along with Gussie Foster's three great-grandchildren, will be among about 30 celebrants at a party today at the Marina Restaurant.
Foster shares other things in common with many of her fellow centenarians, including a strong spirituality and a low-fat diet.
``I'm just a human, but I do have a deep belief in Jesus Christ and God, the Great Creator,'' she said.
If her current health continues, Foster could be among the first Americans to live in three different centuries.
And what would the woman who remembers growing up in the ruins of the Civil War like to see in happen in the future?
``I'd like to see peace all over the world. I think everybody would like to see that.'' ILLUSTRATION: TURNING 100
When Augusta ``Gussie'' Foster turns 100 today, she'll join more
than 52,000 centenarians across the country - more than three times
the number in 1980.
A study shows about half of all centenarians are in good health,
both physically and mentally.
Willard Scott, the NBC ``Today'' show weatherman who began
broadcasting centerian's birthdays in 1981, now receives about 400
centenarian letters a week.
The over-85 age group is among the fastest growing in America.
Now comprising 12 percent of the population, this elderly group is
expected to grow to 17.5 percent by the year 2020.
DREW C. WILSON
The Virginian-Pilot
Today, Augusta Whitehead Foster reaches a milestone. She'll
celebrate at a party with her family.
KEYWORDS: PROFILE CENTENARIAN by CNB