Medford mail tribune., October 11, 1959, Image 49

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GREAT-GRANDMOTHER
OF OUR TIME
PHOTOGRAPHS AND TEXT
by A. David Gurewitsch, M.D.
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Eleanor Roosevelt
ASS
When even an active person reaches the
three-quarters of a century mark, we
usually think of the balance of his life as a
time for mellowing, a time when he retires
from the hurly-burly of commerce with his
fellow man to seek quiet, reflective pursuits.
Eleanor Roosevelt is one of those rare few
who does not bow to this stricture of our
society.
It has been my honor to know Mrs. Roose
velt for 20 years. In that time, I feel, I have
come to know her quite well. I have been her
physician since shortly after her husband
died. She has always been one of the most
active women of our time and, today, as she
celebrates her 75th birthday, she shows
scarcely a sign of slowing down.
A great-grandmother nine times over, this
remarkable lady is as dedicated to service of
humanity, at a stage in iife where society
would have her in a rocking chair, as she was
on the day I met her. She has accumulated a
vast variety of experiences in her long life
and she has the ability to store them away for
the time she has need of them. This makes her
as old and wise as the woods. And yet, para
doxically, she seems very young because her
appetite for learning has never been sated
and her ability to retain what she has learned
seems as keen as it ever was.
Mrs. Roosevelt is impressed by the number
of her years, but only in a vague, detached
way, for she doesn't feel old at all. In her case,
the 75 figure is a rank deception as many
younger people (including myself) who have
tried to keep pace with her have discovered.
Her daily schedule is grueling. She rises
every morning at 7 or 7: 30, refusing to make
a concession to the fact that she may have
been working at her desk until dawn, and
v starts her day with gymnastic exercise.
Her travel mileage each year undoubtedly
rivals that of our most peripatetic journeyer.
Sometimes she makes two or three airplane
flights a day and still finds time to attend
many receptions and deliver several speeches.
In 1959 she has already been to Iran and .
Israel, crisscrossed our continent many times,
and she would have gone to China last month,
if it had been possible.
The secret of her heavy schedule is organi
zation and self -discipline. No moment is ever
unused. If there is nothing to do for a moment,
she sleeps. There are times when she works
through most of the night. Then it is only this
ability to catnap that gets her through the
next day. I have seen her live in this manner
for days on end.
Time and again, as I have traveled with
Mrs. Roosevelt, I have found that I can't do
half of what she does. Once on a trip from
New Delhi, India, we stopped about 200 miles
north of Bombay. That morning the reigning
maharaja showed us the surrounding villages.
We started at 6 a.m., driving from village to ,
village over dusty roads in the oppressive
heat, going through the primitive huts that
housed both animals and humans.
We gulped a hasty lunch with the maharaja
and then rushed to our plane for a flight to
Bombay. When we arrived, worn out and
grimy, we learned that our day, far from being
over, was just beginning. A reception had
been scheduled for Mrs. Roosevelt at the city
hall for that very minute. Many would have
claimed fatigue and bowed out, but without
a moment's hesitation she declared: "I won't
keep them waiting. I am going dressed just
as I am."
The approaches to city hall were lined with
hundreds of thousands of people. Mrs. Roose
velt stood up in an open car, balancing herself
(Continued)
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At Hyde Park four Roosevelt great-grandchildren enjoy
party with Mom, known as "Sisti" in White House days.
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Memorial Dav observance in Hyde Park rose garden brings
together Mrs. Roosevelt and sons John and Franklin, Jr.
Fa nlly Weekly, October 11, 1959
15