Just weeks before turning 102, Mary Shy told CBN News she never dreamed she would still be on this side of eternity.
"It's just what the Lord wants. So you don't argue about that. When He's ready, He'll come get me," she said. "He's got something here for me to do. I don't know what it is, but when He finishes with me, then I'll get to go home."
Still sharp as a tack, Mary worked at an accounting firm until age 88. She also lived alone for the last 40 years until just three months ago when she moved in with her grandson and his wife, David and Kelly Duncan.
"She's spunky. She has an incredible sense of humor. She takes things very lightly. She's very kind," Kelly told CBN News. "People ask if she complains a lot, and she doesn't."
Mary remains very active. Each week she goes to church and gets her hair done. She even gets a pedicure every other week. She does many of the household chores such as laundry and washing dishes, as well as preparing many of her own meals, like her favorite lunch which includes a bacon and jam sandwich, and often a Payday candy bar, but just the small size. She even has a tiny glass of red wine just about each day.
Jesus Is Her Life
Most notably, Mary reads her Bible for more than an hour every day, as she has for years.
"Oh, every time you read it, you get something new out of it," she said. "I don't care if you read it 15-hundred times."
Mary says she's not afraid to die. In fact, she looks forward to it.
"Heaven is going to be so wonderful that who in their right mind, if they know about it, are going to be the least bit concerned about it?" she said.
Mary said she was with her daughter when she passed and recalled seeing her reach out to Jesus right before leaving this earth. Mary said she believes that will be her experience, as well.
"Don't tell me that Jesus doesn't take your hand and take you home," she said. "You'll never convince me that that's not what he's going to do for me too, one of these days, for all of us that know Him and trust in Him."
US Centenarian Population Expected to Grow
While Mary's longevity is impressive, she's not alone. Today there are over 100,000 American centenarians. That number is expected to quadruple in the next 30 years, according to projections from the U.S. Census Bureau. That's largely due to an expected population increase combined with longer life expectancies.
Surgeon and aging expert Steven Gundry, M.D., author of The Longevity Paradox: How to Die Young at a Ripe Old Age, told CBN News, like Mary, many centenarians are very healthy and have been throughout their lives.
"These people actually have the physiology, have the workings, of a 50-year-old individual," he said. "What we know about super old people that are thriving is that they don't become infirmed, they don't get cancer, they don't get Alzheimer's."
Gundry credits that to a large number of a wide variety of good bacteria living in their intestines.
"When we look at 105-year-old people around the world, they carry the diverse gut microbiome of 30-year-old people," he said.
Other Longevity Components
Doctors say in addition to a healthy gut microbiome, another contributor to longevity involves exercise, especially walking up hills. In fact, the five world cities with the highest concentration of centenarians are all very hilly. They are Okinawa, Japan; Sardinia, Italy; Nicoya, Costa Rica; Icaria, Greece; and Loma Linda, California. Turns out, Mary lived much of her life in the Smoky Mountains and did plenty of walking there.
Genetics and a positive attitude factor in, as well as the unknown.
"Our days are numbered. Our times are in the Lord's hands," Kelly said, when asked to explain her grandmother's long life. "I don't know how it all works. You can be 50 and fit and the Lord call you home, or you can be 101. So those things are up to the Lord."
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So while we won't all live to age 100 or beyond, we can all benefit from the wisdom of someone who has. Mary advises younger people to give their lives to the Lord and always read His Word. She says although Scripture is ancient, it's also "new every morning," adding, "I'm reading Ezekiel right now. And it amazes me. It amazes me how God all those thousands of years ago put in there exactly what's it's like reading today's newspaper."
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