Jacob Quat & Teddy Kaplan

Reaching 100 years is no longer an oddity or a miracle or even a rare occurrence. Today in Israel, according to statistics from the Institute for National Insurance, 1000 men and women are over 100 years of age. There are many reasons for this increased life expectancy. More intensive research, the use of drug therapy, the combination of better living conditions, improved nutrition and adequate physical activity. However, two key factors emerge: one, people are taking better care of themselves, and two, science and medicine are taking better care of people.

Attaining old age is like being in a minefield. If you see footprints leading to the other side, step in them. We are now about to embark on the journey following Jacob Quat’s footprints: here is his story.

Jacob Quat: Age 105 years

Jacob was born in New York City in 1903. For the past eight years he has been living in the Neve Aviv parents’ home in Kfar Shmaryahu. He is the oldest of all the residents there, who are all under one hundred years of age.

I met him on a warm sunny morning and could not believe my eyes. When I approached him and greeted him he rose from his chair with such alacrity as would have put a seventy year old man to shame. He greeted me with a firm handshake. When he stood, however, I noticed that his posture was stooped (what did I expect?), his voice was a little weak, and he told me that his eyesight and hearing were not so good. He asked me to speak into his left ear. His eyes were blue and very clouded. Obviously his hair was grey and he still had most of his own teeth, the rest being artificial. He volunteered to conduct our interview in his room, which was situated on the first floor; I agreed and followed him up the stairs. As he approached the staircase, I paid special attention to see if he would use the banister. He did not! He negotiated the stairs unaided, (I have clients who are in their fifties and sixties and when they walk up or down stairs, they invariably reach out to the banister).

His room was large and comfortable, with a single bed and all the usual facilities and necessities and a sizeable balcony.

Past:

Family

Jacob's father was 63 years old when he passed away, and his mother 84. His maternal grandmother died in her middle 80s and his maternal grandfather at the age of 70. His paternal grandfather died at the age of 103: he does not remember the age of his paternal grandmother.  He was one of five siblings, the "sandwich". His older brother and his younger brother each died at the age of 94, a sister died at 102. He also has another sister, Hedda, living today, who is 100 and lives at present in Boulder, Colorado.

His first marriage was to Judith Guttman and they lived together until her death 35 years later. She was a painter and Jacob has six of her paintings hanging on the wall in his room. They had one daughter who gave birth to three children. So Jacob now has a grandson living in the States, another grandson living in Raanana and a granddaughter in Beer Sheva. All of them are in their forties. He has nine great grandchildren, three from each grandchild. His second marriage was to Ruth Goldstein and also lasted 35 years until she passed away.

Childhood

Jacob suffered from all the childhood diseases: measles, mumps, chicken pox and pneumonia twice. By the time he reached 18 years, he was seldom ill. The only time in his whole life that he was in a hospital was when he had his tonsils removed. He grew up in a very congenial and happy family atmosphere.

Occupation

Jacob qualified as a lawyer and worked in New York for twelve years. On the death of his father he moved to Pennsylvania to look after the family business for 14 years.

He made aliyah in 1950 (aged 47), passed his examinations to work as a lawyer in Israel but instead took a job as the academic secretary of the Technion in Haifa. Jacob described the ten years that he worked in the Technion, including being the right hand man to the president, Yaacov Dori, as the years which gave him most satisfaction.

Lifestyle

I asked Jacob what he did in his life in order to reach the ripe old age of 105 years. He gave several reasons: 1) Heredity: he attributed this fact to having good genes on both sides of his family. 2) Special diet: when he was a young man, he read an article in the New York Globe newspaper, now defunct, written by a newspaper reporter named McCann, who was a crusader for eating natural foods. No sugar in his tea or coffee, no sweets, no white bread - only black, plenty of fruit and vegetables. He formed a habit which he adopts to this very day. 3) Physical activity: he was never good in sports but did a lot of walking. As a schoolboy, he was a sprinter. 4) Smoking: he was a very light smoker and stopped smoking at the age of 35. 5) Drinking: he enjoyed a glass of wine or beer. "I cannot think of anything else in which my lifestyle was different from that of other people. I am lucky, or maybe it is simply fate".

Present:

Physically: "My body is in fairly good shape. Everything is working. I walk three to four kilometers every morning and participate in a gymnastics class four times a week". (I was witness to this). On one of my visits to Jacob, we walked around the block, about two kilometers in 27.5 minutes. Not bad at all! We also played chess. Jacob was slow, steady and checkmated me. "I have a good breakfast, with plenty of appetite in the morning. My major problem is my failing eyesight and hearing, which could be compatible with men of a younger age but with my mind, I fear that my mind is deteriorating and that things are happening to me that never happened when I was younger. I feel like 105, but in some respects, I am in better shape than the people I see around me who are 30 years younger than me.

“I attend lectures, and concerts and play games here in this building. I enjoy good food and have a special interest in poetry". I took the opportunity of looking at his book shelf. All the classics were there: Plato, The Odyssey, The Universe and Dr Einstein, Eminent American Jews. His compact discs were: Mozart, Bach, Haydn, Beethoven, Brahms, Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue and An American in Paris, Dylan Thomas reading his poetry, even Louis Armstrong's Mack the Knife. “But alas,” he says, "I cannot enjoy them anymore because of my impaired eyesight and hearing".

While I was sitting and talking to Jacob, my hand surreptitiously took hold of his wrist and I counted his pulse. This was a habit that I involuntarily executed, which I learnt from my late brother who was a cardiologist. Jacob’s pulse was 66 beats per minute. Excellent.

I observed open-mouthed how he negotiated those nineteen steps leading to his room on the first floor, unaided and without using the banister, how we walked around the block, two kilometers in 27.5 minutes, and how he played chess with me. Here are a few other functions that I observed Jacob able to perform: putting on and removing a jacket, lifting a book and putting it on a shelf, putting a key in a lock and opening/closing the door, making and answering telephone calls, lifting food onto a spoon and into the mouth, breaking and putting sugar in coffee. I mentioned to Jacob that he had told me that he does not use sugar. His reply, "I have made an exception because I have you with me. I'm treating myself. I have honey on my table in the dining room, that's what I use". Jacob uses an electric shaver to shave every morning. "I don't see my face but I guess I manage alright". He told me that he showers every morning, hot water followed by cold water and then a rub down with a towel. Getting into and out of bed, using the toilet, rising from a chair, moving around outdoors on flat ground. In my humble opinion, the mere fact that Jacob can play chess supersedes all the above physical functioning activities.

THIS MAN IS 105 YEARS OLD!

Future:

As to the foreseeable future, said Jacob:  “I intend to keep up my regular physical activities of walking and exercising as long as I am able to do so, but taking care not to go beyond the limits of prudence in consideration of my age. I have no idea when my death will occur, within a few months or a few years, but I look forward to it with equanimity.”