Humor and activity keep man, 94, popular and healthy

This Sam Fox is not the U.S. ambassador to Belgium.

"I'm the poor Sam Fox," Fox said when asked about the wealthy St. Louis businessman of the same name who was appointed to an ambassador's post last year by President George W. Bush.

"I met him at my doctor's office," Fox said of his namesake. "I was coming in as he was going out. The nurse said, 'Sam Fox, meet Sam Fox.' I sometimes get his phone calls and mail, because I'm listed and he's not. I pass it on to his secretary."

This Sam Fox is important in other ways. At 94, he is the captain of his bowling team, the Ten Pins, and is the oldest participant in the St. Louis Senior Olympics, which will be held May 23-26. He's also a popular fellow. An interview at Strike 'N' Spare Lanes in Creve Coeur was interrupted repeatedly by Fox's friends and fellow bowlers stopping by to trade greetings and wisecracks.


That, it quickly became apparent, is Fox's magic elixir for a long, worthwhile life: A sense of humor that is generously shared. The medical profession has long known that a good outlook is as important as exercise and diet in keeping healthy and fit. This Sam Fox is living proof.

"I'm always joking around," Fox said. "I laugh a lot. And I keep active."

The mail carrier walked by with his delivery for the bowling lane and, of course, shared a few words and a laugh with Fox. "If the other Sam Fox has as much spirit as this one, he truly is a rich man," the mail carrier said.

Fox is a well-known personality with the staffers at the Jewish Community Center, the Olympics headquarters. "He comes in at least once a week, and he always has this big grin on his face," said coordinator Abbey Hartmann. "He's sunny, cracking jokes with us, full of life and vigor. He's very proud of what he's accomplished, and just happy to be here."

HIS JOURNEY TO THE LANES

This Sam Fox was born Aug. 20, 1913, the second oldest of six children. "My father had a men's clothing factory on Locust in St. Louis," he said. "He pulled me out of Soldan High School when I was 15 and put me to work as his bookkeeper, doing his payroll."

Fox was in the Army in World War II — the only time he admits to smoking and drinking — and went back to the factory after the war. In 1950, he married his wife, Minna, who died in 1993 at the age of 79. The couple had two boys and a girl.

Fox officially retired in 1978, at the age of 65, but has been going strong, in other ways, ever since. He lives at Covenant House, an assisted-living facility, and in warm weather walks the short distance to the lanes to bowl on Wednesdays and Fridays. "The doctor told me to bowl until I die," Fox said. "Last year, we were the champions of our seniors league. We might win it this year, too."

"I also call bingo," Fox said. "I volunteered to do it for 60 years at the Jefferson Barracks and Cochran Hospital on Grand Avenue. Now, I do it on Saturday nights at Covenant House."

Age has taken a bit of a toll. Fox has lost two inches in height, and now stands an even 5 feet. His bowling average is down to 142. "When I was 72, I had a 265 game and a 689 series," he said. And he takes nine medications a day because of heart and kidney ailments. But his hearing is fine and he only wears glasses to read.

"I've seen a lot of things in my lifetime — radio and television, air conditioning. When I was young, we didn't even have fans. I used to go to hockey games, the St. Louis Flyers minor-league team. After the hockey games, we went bowling, cause that's where the girls were."

MEMORIES AND GRATITUDE

For the interview, Fox brought a shoe box full of ribbons he has won in the Senior Olympics. In 25 years, he has collected 16 ribbons in the bowling competition. "I also competed in table tennis," he said. "I played last year, and didn't do too well. They asked me to play this year, but I told them I'm too old.

"You meet a lot of nice people at the Senior Olympics; they come from all over the country. It's great for the companionship."

The rest of the Ten Pins had finished their warm-up frames, and Fox had to go.

"For an old man, I'm doing OK," he said as he got up. "I've got three wonderful kids, two grandchildren, and a lot of friends. I used to go out with a 93-year-old woman. When she found out how old I was, she quit me."

Fox walked off, chuckling at what may have been a joke.

For information on the Senior Olympics, call 314-432-5705, or visit stlouisseniorolympics.org.

SAM FOX
Age: 94
Home: Creve Coeur
Occupation: Retired bookkeeper
What he did: He is the oldest competitor in the St. Louis Senior Olympics, and the captain of his bowling team.
Quotable: "You meet a lot of nice people at the Senior Olympics; they come from all over the country. It's great for the companionship."
WHAT HE EATS
At 5-feet and 135 pounds, Sam Fox doesn't really worry about his diet. "A lot of people tell me at my age, I ought to eat what I want," he said. "I won't eat a lot of vegetables. I take a beer in the daytime, once in a while."
Breakfast: A waffle from the microwave and coffee.
Lunch: A sandwich, and coffee.
Dinner: A prepared dinner in the microwave.

The Story of My Life

This is my Life Story...........


Shit! Now I forgot what I was gonna tell ya.

The oldest Americans are also the happiest, research finds

CHICAGO (AP) - It turns out the golden years really are golden. Eye-opening new research finds the happiest Americans are the oldest, and older adults are more socially active than the stereotype of the lonely senior suggests. The two go hand-in-hand: Being social can help keep away the blues.

"The good news is that with age comes happiness," said study author Yang Yang, a University of Chicago sociologist. "Life gets better in one's perception as one ages."

A certain amount of distress in old age is inevitable, including aches and pains and the deaths of loved ones and friends. But older people generally have learned to be more content with what they have than younger adults, Yang said.

This is partly because older people have learned to lower their expectations and accept their achievements, said Duke University aging expert Linda George. An older person may realize "it's fine that I was a schoolteacher and not a Nobel prize winner."

George O'Hare, 81, a retired Sears manager from Willowbrook, Ill., is seen at his home on...

George, who was not involved in the new study, believes the research is important because people tend to think that "late life is far from the best stage of life, and they don't look forward to it."

Yang's findings are based on periodic face-to-face interviews with a nationally representative sample of Americans from 1972 to 2004. About 28,000 people ages 18 to 88 took part.

There were ups and downs in overall happiness levels during the study, generally corresponding with good and bad economic times. But at every stage, older Americans were the happiest.

While younger blacks and poor people tended to be less happy than whites and wealthier people, those differences faded as people aged.

In general, the odds of being happy increased 5 percent with every 10 years of age.

Overall, about 33 percent of Americans reported being very happy at age 88, versus about 24 percent of those age 18 to their early 20s. And throughout the study years, most Americans reported being very happy or pretty happy. Less than 20 percent said they were not too happy.

A separate University of Chicago study found that about 75 percent of people aged 57 to 85 engage in one or more social activities at least every week. Those include socializing with neighbors, attending religious services, volunteering or going to group meetings.

Those in their 80s were twice as likely as those in their 50s to do at least one of these activities.

Both studies appear in April's American Sociological Review.

"People's social circles do tend to shrink a little as they age - that is mainly where that stereotype comes from, but that image of the isolated elderly really falls apart when we broaden our definition of what social connection is," said study co-author Benjamin Cornwell, also a University of Chicago researcher.

The research rings true for 81-year-old George O'Hare, a retired Sears manager in Willowbrook, Ill. He's active with church and AARP and does motivational speaking, too. His wife is still living, and he's close to his three sons and four grandchildren.

"I'm very happy because I've made friends that are still living," O'Hare said. "I like to go out and speak in schools about motivation."

"Happiness is getting out and being with people, and that's why I recommend it," he said.

Ilse Siegler, an 84-year-old retired nurse manager in Chicago, has a slightly different perspective. Her husband died 35 years ago, and she says she still misses him every day.

She has vision problems and has slowed down with age. Yet she still swims, runs a social group in her condo building, volunteers in a retirement home and is active with her temple. These all help "make life more enjoyable," she said.

While Siegler said these aren't the happiest years of her life, she's content.

"Contentment as far as I'm concerned comes with old age ... because you accept things the way they are," she said. "You know that nothing is perfect."

Cornwell's nationally representative study was based on in-home interviews with 3,005 people in 2005 and 2006. While it didn't include nursing home residents, only about 4 percent of Americans aged 75 to 84 are in nursing homes, Cornwell said.

It's all good news for the aging population. However, Yang's study also found that baby boomers were the least happy. They could end up living the unfortunate old-age stereotype if they can't let go of their achievement-driven mind-set, said George, the Duke aging expert.

So far, baby boomers aren't lowering their aspirations at the same rate earlier generations did. "They still seem to believe that they should have it all," George said. "They're still thinking about having a retirement that's going to let them do everything they haven't done yet."

Previous research also has shown that mid-life tends to be the most stressful time, said Cornell University sociologist Elaine Wethington. "Everyone's asking you to do things and you have a lot to do. You're less happy because you feel hassled."

The new studies show "if you can make it through that," there's light at the end of the tunnel, Wethington said.