Oscar Simmons, a longtime pressman at The Denver Post, celebrated his 100th birthday on Monday. The Wheat Ridge resident has five tips for long life:
1. “Listen a whole lot more than you talk.”
Enough said.
2. Surround yourself with good company.
“I call her my ‘companion,’ but, yes, she’s my girlfriend. She’s 84, and she looks out for me by shopping and just passing the time away.”
3. Live clean
“Don’t work in a newspaper pressroom. Well, not a pressroom like I used to work in,” he says. “I wonder sometimes about how I’m still here with all the dust, ink and oil I breathed in.”
4. Stay active.
“It’s important to keep using your mind and body. I used to bowl and golf a lot. Now, I walk. I also meet with other (Post retirees) every month for what I call our ‘bull session.’ Then I play pinochle for quarters on Thursday nights. I won second place last week.”
5. Stay informed.
“My eyes are bad, but I take the paper every day and listen to the news on the television. I’m no computer person, and I’m just fine without all that.”
– Christine Tatum, Denver Post staff writer
