Jeanne Louise Kalman: biography and secrets of longevity

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Jeanne Louise Calment – French long-liver (1875-1997) is the “oldest” person who ever lived on Earth. She was born in Arles, where she spent her entire life.

Jeanne Louise Kalman

The girl was born in 1875 to wealthy parents who were 37 years old. In addition to Jeanne, there were also children in the family, but two died in early childhood, and the older brother lived until the age of 97.

As a teenager, she sold paints in her father’s shop, where the famous artist Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890) once entered, but she refused to serve him: Van Gogh seemed to her “dirty, poorly dressed, unfriendly and smelled of booze.”

Husband and daughter

At the age of 21, she married her second cousin Fernand Nicolas Kalman. Despite the relationship between the bride and the groom, the priest agreed to the marriage.

The husband owned a shop that was doing well, and she got the opportunity not to work. Her life was quite active: playing tennis, cycling, swimming, rollerblading, playing the piano and visiting operas.

Two years later, the couple had a daughter, Yvonne. When her daughter became an adult, she successfully married and gave birth to a son, Frederick. But at 33, Yvonne died of pneumonia. Ten years later, in 10, Jeanne’s husband died of poisoning.

Grandson, son-in-law and niece

After the death of her husband, Kalman devoted her life to raising her grandson together with her son-in-law.

In 1963, his grandson Frederick died in a car accident, he was 37 years old. In the same year, Jeanne’s son-in-law also dies.

Her niece, daughter of her older brother François, died at the age of 21. She was left without heirs.

“Bad” deal

At the age of 90, the long-liver made a deal with the lawyer Raffre. Under the agreement, Raffre pledged to pay her 2500 French francs every month, in exchange for an apartment after her death. The market price of the apartment was equal to 10 years of payments, but the long-liver lived for another 32 years!

The Raffre family paid more than three times the rent for the apartment. The lawyer himself never lived to see this: he died at the age of 77, while Kalman was 120 years old. The remaining 2 years were paid by his widow.

Nursing home

• at the age of 110, she moved to a nursing home. The reason for the move was a fire that happened in the kitchen in the apartment;
• when she was 115 years old, she fell down the stairs and broke her hip, after which she began to move with the help of a wheelchair;
• at 117, she quit smoking. She smoked for 95 years. According to her, she quit smoking, because due to loss of vision, she could not light a cigarette on her own. According to her attending physician, the long-liver smoked two cigarettes a day;
• she retained a clear memory and mind until the end of her life. She recited poems that she had learned in childhood, and easily solved arithmetic examples;
• Zhanna Louise Kalman died on August 4, 1997. At the time of her death, she was 122 years, 5 months and 14 days old. Death came from natural causes.

 The secret of longevity

She did not lead a healthy lifestyle. The secret was her positive attitude towards life. She believed that the reason for her long life was the regular consumption of olive oil, red wine, fruits and chocolate. Plus, it didn’t work.

With the exception of smoking, Kalman has always been actively involved in sports: she played tennis, rode a bicycle until she was 100, and was engaged in fencing. I spent a lot of time in nature.

On every day of her birth, reporters visited the cheerful old woman. One of them, saying goodbye to a 117-year-old lady, said: “Until next year, maybe.” To which Jeanne replied: “Why not? I don’t think you look so bad! ”

The rules of life of Jeanne Kalman in quotes

• Youth is a state of mind, not a body. Therefore, I am still quite a girl, I just look bad for the last 70 years.
• God forgot about me!
• I’m in love with wine.
• Always smile. This is how I explain the reason for my longevity.
• If you can’t do anything about something, don’t worry about it.
• I have a great desire to live and a good appetite, especially for sweets.
• I never use mascara because I laugh a lot to tears.
• It seems to me that I will die of laughter.
• I have iron legs, but to be honest, they began to slowly rust.
• I enjoyed every opportunity, I followed the principles of morality, and I have nothing to regret. I’m lucky.

Jeanne Louise Kalman: biography (video)

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