Community Voice: What 100 years can teach us about aging
Contributed photo / Centenarian Edna Young celebrating her 100th birthday with Jodi Southerland on July 6, 2025 at Ottway Community Church in Greeneville, Tennessee.
By Jodi Southerland 5 min read
The idea for the Century Club started during COVID. I remember seeing countless images of older adults portrayed as vulnerable, isolated or simply at risk. Those risks were real, but I kept thinking: This cannot be the only story we tell about growing older.
We are also living longer than ever before. Adults 85 and older are the fastest-growing segment of the population, followed by centenarians. The U.S. Census Bureau projects that by 2060, we will add roughly half a million centenarians to the U.S. population.
If more of us are going to live longer, we need to do a better job of telling positive stories about what it means to grow older.
FILE – Centenarian marathon runner Fauja Singh, 101, center, originally from Beas Pind, in Jalandhar, India but who now lives in London, runs in a 10-kilometer race, part of the annual Hong Kong Marathon, in Hong Kong Sunday, Feb. 24, 2013. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung, File)In this April 5, 2019, image made from a video, 100-year-old Tao Porchon-Lynch teaches a yoga class in Hartsdale, N.Y. (AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey)Dr. Eli Zebooker, 105, right, greets Marion Klarman, 100, during Philadelphia’s 18th Annual Centenarian Celebration at SugarHouse Casino, Thursday, May 17, 2018, in Philadelphia. The city says there are about 550 Philadelphia Centenarians, including 179 people who are turning 100 this year. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)Staff Photo by Matt Hamilton / George Summers looks at a banner on his front lawn for his 100th birthday in Rossville on Sunday, Nov. 15, 2020. Family and friends held the birthday parade for the centenarian as a safer birthday option during the COVID-19 pandemic.Staff Photo by Matt Hamilton / George Summers waves to well-wishers from his front lawn for his 100th birthday in Rossville on Sunday, Nov. 15, 2020. Family and friends held the birthday parade for the centenarian as a safer birthday option during the COVID-19 pandemic.Staff Photo by Matt Hamilton / George Summers waves to well-wishers from his front lawn for his 100th birthday in Rossville on Sunday, Nov. 15, 2020. Family and friends held the birthday parade for the centenarian as a safer birthday option during the COVID-19 pandemic.Staff Photo by Matt Hamilton / George Summers waves to well-wishers from his front lawn for his 100th birthday in Rossville on Sunday, Nov. 15, 2020. Family and friends held the birthday parade for the centenarian as a safer birthday option during the COVID-19 pandemic.
I reached out to Centenarians of Oklahoma, which has been recognizing people ages 100 and older since 1991, to learn how they had developed their program. They have recognized more than 3,200 centenarians to date. I loved the simplicity of it: recognizing people for reaching an incredible milestone and giving them an opportunity to share something about their lives.
