Longevity Tips from the Oldest U.S. Resident

The secret to a long, happy life may be chocolate.

That wisdom comes from 113-year-old Worcester resident Goldie Michelson—who, according to her alma mater Clark University, is now believed to be the oldest person in the United States.

Clark posted on Facebook Monday that Michelson, who turns 114 in August, is now the nation’s oldest resident, and the world’s oldest Jew. She assumed the title on May 12, after Susannah Mushatt Jones, formerly the world’s oldest person and a Brooklyn resident, passed away at the age of 116. Emma Morano, of Italy, is now the oldest person in the world.

Michelson, who graduated in the class of 1936, spoke with CLARK Magazine in 2012, when she was a mere 110 years old. In that interview, she shared some of her tips for longevity—including, yes, chocolate. Here are a few other pearls of wisdom she passed along to writer Jim Keough:

• Get your steps in: “I was a great walker—four or five miles every morning, weather permitting. I never used a car if I could walk.”
• Keep your vices in check…: “I never smoke or drank.”
• …except one: “I do love chocolate. Lots of chocolate.”
• Stay busy: Keough writes that Michelson, “Spread her love of theater to children and adults in schools, clubs and, well into her 90s, to senior citizens in area nursing homes.”
• Be happy: “It never occurred to me that I would live this long,” she told Keough. “I just went on and on, and I’ve loved it.”