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By Gail
McCarthy,
Staff Writer
The
Gloucester Daily Times
Ever since
Katherine “Kit” Abrahamson celebrated her
100th birthday, life has offered some
surprises.
The woman, who was widowed at 43 and joined the Cape Ann
Seniorettes dance troupe at 80, danced
before ABC cameras this week.
Abrahamson will be featured during a two-hour Barbara Walters
special on longevity, which will air early
next year. |
A camera crew from ABC
films Kit and other
Cape Ann Seniorettes practicing a dance
routine.
Photo: Mike Dean, Gloucester Daily Times. |
|
A film crew followed her as she prepared
Tuesday for a dance recital with the
Seniorettes at Miss Tina’s Dance Studio on
Burnham Street. She had a one-on-one
interview with a producer and attended a
family barbecue that evening, all of which
was caught on tape.
“Even when the film crew was beginning to tire,
she was just fine, always smiling,” said
associate producer for ABC. “We came to film
a dance class and ended up being so amazed
by her and her family. She’s so much fun to
be around.”
The film crew caught her 89-year-old
brother, Joe Barry of New Hampshire, playing
basketball with one of Abrahamson’s
great-grandchildren at the dinner. He is her
only surviving sibling of a family with 14
children. Abrahamson is one of perhaps five
centenarians who will be part of the
program. The television special will cover
several topics related to aging and
research.
“We were looking for somebody over 100, but
doing something truly exceptional. Aside
from Kit’s dancing, what amazed us was the
unbelievable condition she is in, even her
hearing and eyesight,” [the ABC producer
said.]
A size 4, Abrahamson weighs in at 92 pounds
and stands 4 feet, 11 inches tall. When she
was born March 15, 1907, in Gloucester,
Theodore Roosevelt was president; Oklahoma
was months away from becoming the 46th state
and a loaf of bread cost four cents.
The filming this week was the second
surprise Abrahamson has had since turning
100. She was contacted by a Vaseline
representative from New York after a
Gloucester Daily Times article about her
birthday mentioned she used the product for
night cream. In turn, the company sent her a
porcelain jar in which she could keep the
Vaseline.
Positive aging
Lynn Peters Adler, founder of the
Phoenix-based National Centenarian Awareness
Project, learned about Abrahamson through
the same article. She read how Abrahamson
danced past midnight at her 100th birthday
party. Adler has spent the past 20 years
studying and celebrating centenarians.
ABC had contacted Adler because of her
work, and she, in turn, led them to
Abrahamson. Adler said work focuses on those
she calls “active centenarians,” people
enjoying life in their own way.
“Active centenarians like Kit and
Rockport’s Peggy Williams represent the
future of aging as a concept for baby
boomers because they show what’s possible if
people not only live long, but age well,”
Adler said. “The hardest part of what I do
is finding people like Kit and Peggy, both
who are inspirational. Each has an
extraordinary social support network. But
they are proactive, not passive, and they
are putting themselves out there. We need to
develop that as we get older. Sometimes
people tend toward isolation as they age.”
At 80, some people begin to withdraw, Adler
said, but in Abrahamson’s case, she started
dancing with the Cape Ann Seniorettes.
Abrahamson knows the power of positive
thinking. When someone told the centenarian
that she had a happy family, she replied
that “it’s better than being an old grouch.
“Some people never smile. I think they’d
crack their face if they did,” said
Abrahamson, who raised two children alone.
“Life goes on and you have to go on with
it. When you have to bring up the children
by yourself, it makes a big difference,” she
said. “My brother says he can’t call me
‘meek’ anymore like I used to be, but I had
to grow up after my husband died. He’s been
gone 56 years. But I’m so lucky to have so
many nice people.”
Abrahamson almost said no to the television
segment because she said felt a bit timid.
“But they are a very nice film crew. They
were so pleasant that, even though I was
nervous at first, I was relaxed when it
started,” she said. “Now I have to worry
about my recital on Saturday.”
Raising awareness
Adler often serves as a catalyst to bring
active centenarians to public awareness,
“and the media is one effective way to bring
them to the attention of others.”After
decades of research, Adler said growing
older is getting easier.
“It’s going to get better from here on,”
she said. “I’ve had the privilege of seeing
a generation of centenarians, and I can see
the difference.”
That number of centenarians in the
United States has nearly tripled in a
generation. She noted that census data shows
that in 1985, there were about 25,000
centenarians; in 2005, there were about
72,000. Cape Ann is home to several. Adler’s
nonprofit program has grown in the past two
decades.
“I began a program in Phoenix
in 1985 and it was so successful in
recognizing and honoring the eldest
residents of Phoenix, focusing on
centenarians, that I took it statewide and
developed a program for the state,” she
said.
Adler holds a law degree,
though she has dedicated her career to
nonprofit work. Her nonprofit organization
has three purposes: advocacy for better
inclusion and treatment in general,
celebration of centenarians’ lives and
providing inspiration.
“The inspiration is because active
centenarians are redefining aging and really
are role models of aging for the baby
boomers,” she said. Adler wants to work
toward better respect for what she calls
“elders.”
...She is at work on her second book, which
will include Abrahamson and Williams, a well
known Cape Ann watercolor artist, when it is
published.
“These two women are example of how active
centenarians are really a diverse group of
distinct individuals,” Adler said. |
