An article in the Wichita Eagle tells of a 102 year old man still working as a federal judge in Wichita.
Wesley Brown was appointed by JFK in 1962 and has served as a federal judge through 10 presidents. Born in 1907, he has seen the advent of radio, television and internet – he was born just two months after the first musical radio broadcast.
His strong work ethic has been evident in him since he started working at age 10 after his father fell ill. He said “I’ve worked all my life. I wouldn’t know what else to do.”
A Harvard Medical School report said that the number of people living up to age 100 and later has doubled in the past 20 years. The report also states that 70,000 Americans are 100 or older.
The Harvard paper Living to 100: What’s the Secret claims “People who live to 100 and beyond exercise their brains, too, by reading, painting, and playing musical instruments. Some continue to work, an indication that our love affair with retirement may be a mixed blessing.”
His long career could very well be a factor in his long life, especially being part of a profession that challenges his intellect on a daily basis.
Being around to see the advent of many forms of communication leads Brown to wonder why people are so hyped up about lack of privacy. He said: “You’d call a central operator, in the early days, and she knew about what everybody was doing all over the community.”
“I don’t know what secrets we can have these days,” he added. And I’ve sort of decided to live my life on the basis of there’s no secrets.”
And yes, he has a cell phone and regularly uses a computer. In one video documentary, he notes Google’s ability to find billions of search results in mere seconds. He said “that’s a long way from when I used to sweat and I couldn’t get my arm off of the paper I was writing on.”
He also added “you’d think we’d be able to find the answers to some of the problems we’ve got with all of the available information on Google.”
An inspiration, indeed.
