the Health and Human Services agency keeps no such record. Scads of retirement homes and assisted-living facilities keep me on the phone for hours. Oceanside’s Agnes McKee made it to 106 and passed on last spring. The longevity record is/was held by Soledad Mexia, of Chula Vista, a super- centenarian, who died at 114. You may get to be the oldest San Diegan but it’s a distinction you won’t hold long. One of a growing
Model of Casa de Machado y Silvas on right
wood,’ and she went on and on, criticizing me.” Come 1995, a rival
enthusiast who wanted to reenact the first auto race in America with original autos buttonholed Cooley to ship the Velo to Chi- cago for the meet. Cooley, infirm, said no way. The man offered him $100,000 cash — within earshot of Cooley’s wife. Who piped up, “We’re not in the business of giving things away.” No deal, Cooley said, relieved. “That was an insult and it got me off the hook with Carmen.” Come 1998, a French-
man came by and offered
Cooley $400,000. Cooley consulted Bill Evans, of local restaurant fame, who said, “Tell him that when he’s serious, you’ll talk to him.” The longer Cooley held out, the higher the price tag went. Up to $1 million, recently, and also turned down. Another car he owns
is the Hunt, one of one, built in San Diego in 1910, a five-ton roadster with a four cylinder 392-cubic- inch engine, custom-cre- ated by Arnie Babcock, scion of Eli, who built the Hotel del Coronado. For the Hunt, Cooley coolly turned down $6 million.
“You can’t have a museum if you’re running a used- car lot.” And one more of his 100 autos, showroom crammed like a hoarder’s freezer, is a reproduc- tion of the world’s first car: the 1885 Benz, its wheels three, its horse- power three-quarters. He’s not parting with it, not no-how.
San Diegan Ending my stroll through local antiquities, I come upon the hardest nut to crack, finding the old- est local person. The Aging and Indepen- dence Services unit of
clutch of centenarians is Bernard Cohen, an independent resident of Wesley Palms and its old- est dweller at 102. In his small apartment, the mas- ter of bridge — his daily activity — tells me of his career as a Manhattan dentist. Fifty years in the Times building in Times Square. “A good profes- sion to be in,” he says, his Brooklyn accent less drawled than that other Bernie from Vermont. “Always in demand.” A stretch in the Army
during the war is his major memory and achievement. He was kept a mile behind the front lines. “When- ever the Army stopped, I
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got patients.” He says his general dentistry “kept going no matter” how technology changed. He cleaned teeth and filled cavities from the first to the last day. His health? “I take it
for granted,” he says. He’s had no serious illnesses
there more men over 100? “The men had a much harder time [doing] their work,” he says. “Much harder than the women.” As if I’m holding up his future, he shifts into sum- mary mode. “I’ve lived a long life. I was busy all the time. I was happy in my
For the Hunt, Cooley coolly turned down $6 million.
and avoids doctors. “I feel fine,” he laughs, “so I’m not going to ask for anything I don’t need.” I note that Cohen, who is diminutive, a bit stooped but with a strong pace and sharp hearing, seems much younger than his age, a head of wavy gray hair, taut socks, clean khaki pants. I ask but he can’t think of a worth- while complaint. He seems to have no regrets, no longings. His room is free of doodads, just a few family photos, a novel on a table, a small TV, sun-breezy La Jolla out the window. Why, I wonder, aren’t
work. It was a good life. I’ve been very fortunate. And I’ve been playing bridge since I was seven years old.” It hits me then: old-
est for the living is just a category, a movable range, without the built-to-last solidity of monuments and graves and buildings we preserve. Bernard Cohen, like you, like me, lasts only so long, and then what? The next longest comes and goes until the next comes and goes and the next and the next as well. Other than its evanes- cence, what about it can we hold on to?
— Thomas Larson ■
24 San Diego Reader September 1, 2016
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