Oldest Living Person

I'm trying to confine myself to centenarians, but there are some nonagenarians who were the oldest in their fields of enterprise and that seems pretty good to me too.

So here is a US postal card from 1985 (Scott UX105) showing Charles Carroll. It is denominated US domestic rate cause it was printed as an emergency rate increase and readied before the increase was set. It turned out to be a 14 cent card.

Charles Carroll ((1737-1832) made it to 95. He was the longest lived signer of the Declaration of Independence by many years and the first senator from Maryland. He is usually known as Charles Carroll of Carrollton to distinguish him from others in his prominent Maryland family.

Dame Ninette de Valois OM CH DBE (1898 – 2001) was an Irish-born British dancer, choreographer, and director of classical ballet. She is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of ballet and as the "godmother" of English and Irish ballet. She is honored with a stamp in the Celebrating the Millennium series issued by An Post on June 16, 2000.

Alicia Moreau de Justo (1885 – 1986) was an Argentine physician, politician, and human rights activist. She was a leading figure in feminism and socialism in Argentina. Correo Argentino issued a stamp featuring her portrait in 1986, shortly after her passing.

Irving Berlin (1888 – 1989) was an American composer and lyricist, widely considered one of the greatest songwriters in American history. During his 60-year career he wrote an estimated 1,500 songs, including original scores for Broadway shows and Hollywood films. The US Postal Service issued a 37-cent Irving Berlin commemorative stamp on September 15, 2002.

I was just posting Irving Berlin too. He's a good one!

Bob Hope on a 2009 US stamp (sc 4406)
Born in England 1903 as Leslie Townes Hope. Died 2003
Comedian,vaudevillian, actor, singer, dancer, athlete, and author. With a career that spanned nearly 80 years, Hope appeared in more than 70 short and feature films, with 54 feature films with Hope as star. Famed for his decades of USO tours around the globe entertaining US service personnel.



He was also on a 1991 stamp from Grenada:

Anna Julia Cooper (1858 – 1964) was an American author, educator, social scientist, and one of the most prominent African-American scholars in United States history. She is honored in a US Black Heritage Series stamp issued on June 11, 2009.

George Burns strikes me as a good one for this topic as he made a second career late in life playing a grumpy but adorable very old man who seemed to live forever despite constantly smoking his trademark cigar.

(1896 -1996, he just made it past 100)

American radio personality, comedian, actor and author known for his radio and television show with his wife Gracie Allen in the 1920s. Their radio show ran from 1932-1950 which had over 40 million listeners. During the 1950s the two starred in "The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show," which was one of the top-rated shows of the decade. After Gracie died in 1964 George continued to make movies, including "The Sunshine Boys" (1975) for which he won a Oscar, and "Oh God!" (1977).

There's an episode of the Burns and Allen show that deals with a supposedly rare stamp -- "the Madagascar Imperial" -- which goes missing from the collection. In the end we find Gracie put it onto an envelope.

Here is United States #4414p from the 2009 Early TV Memories issue.

Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester (1901-2004)

Here she is, with her husband Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester, the third son of King George V, in her state role as Viceregal Consort of Australia in 1945.

Scott #197 - 199 (SG 209 - 211)


I will venture a hypothesis that her various patronages in the British Commonwealth might make her the second most frequent centenarian subject of stamps, at least in the twentieth century, after the Queen Mother. In particular Princess Alice was Chancellor of the University College of the West Indies and so appears on many stamps.... here is one from 1951 British Honduras followed by one from Jamaica in 1975.

Sun Simiao (581-682), famous traditional Chinese medical doctor of the Sui and Tang dynasties. and regarded as the King of Medicine for his significant contributions to the Chinese medicines and tremendous care to his patients.

Soong Ching Ling (1893-1981)

(The First Anniversary of the Death of Comrade Soong Ching Ling)


(The 100 Anniversary of the Birth of Comrade Soong Ching Ling)

In 1908, Soong Ching Ling was in the United States.
In 1915, Dr. Sun Yat-sen and his wife Soong Ching ling were in Japan.
In 1948, Soong Ching Ling was inspecting medical equipment to be transported to the liberated areas.
In 1981, Soong Ching ling was awarded an honorary doctor degree of law at the University of Victoria in Canada.

jleb1979 - you have confused your Princess Alices. Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone, (1883-1981) last surviving granddaughter of Queen Victoria, was the 1st Chancellor of the University College of the West Indies in 1950. However, as she died at the age of 97 she certainly deserves to be in this thread.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princ...s_of_Athlone

Ion Irimescu (1903 – 2005) was one of Romania's greatest sculptors and sketchers as well as a member of the Romanian Academy. He was awarded the Prize of Excellence for Romanian Culture in 2001 and was honored in a stamp issued by Posta Romana in 2003.

Don't let a Yank post on the Royals.... Thanks, 22crows for setting me straight on the two Princess Alices I confounded. Both long-lived ladies though!

Sir Nicholas George Winton, MBE (1909 – 2015) was a British humanitarian who supervised the rescue of 669 children, most of them Jewish, from Czechoslovakia on the eve of World War II. He is honored in a British Humanitarians series stamp issued in 2016.