ITEMS of INTEREST

with contributions from Dana Bartholomew, Cathleen Falsani, Lorin Blumenthal, Berta Delgado

"She has bridged the closing of the American Frontier, the opening of the Age of Flight, and the breach between the 19th and 21st centuries. Margaret 'Madge' Russell, California's oldest living resident, celebrated her 112th birthday Sunday within an elite circle of six other centenarians. 'Oh, golly,' said Russell, 112, of Eagle Rock—the only two words she would utter at a high tea held at Solheim Lutheran Home in Eagle Rock, where city officials and family members honored seven residents who have lived past their 100th birthdays.

"Born Margaret Culver in Guthrie, Oklahoma, in 1892, her birth preceded the second election of Grover Cleveland, America's 22nd and 24th president, and she will likely live past the next presidential election Tuesday. Considered the seventh-oldest American and the 21st-oldest person in the world, Russell has one other claim to fame. A devout Christian Scientist, she has seen a doctor—once. 'She fainted one day, teaching,' said Fred Bonn, 64, of Laguna Niguel, her great-nephew. So a doctor looked at her, which she had never had done, in accordance with her religion. 'He told her she had a bad heart, to take it easy'....

" 'I love everybody, and I try my level best to be good to them,' said the former saleswoman, garment finisher, teacher, and boardinghouse owner before she lapsed largely into silence three years ago. "The more we love, the happier we are. It doesn't pay to go around with hatred in your heart'....

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