A lady, Winnie Langley, who smoked for more than 95 years and made headlines when she lit the cigarette from the candle on her 100th birthday cake, died almost at the age of 103. That was just one month short of her 103rd birthday, on July 27, 2010, to be precise.
Winnie started smoking at the age of 8 and never stopped until she was persuaded to stop it at the age of 102. She used to say that cigarettes helped calm her nerves during the world wars. She outlived her husband, son and all of her 10 step-children.
When her her eyesight got worse and she couldn’t see the end of a match she was persuaded to stop smoking just before Christmas of 2009 (about 7 months before she died). But, the real reason might be something else. As she couldn’t afford the cost of cigarette, she had already cut her 5-cigarettes-a-day routine to one-a-day. (Photo credits – croydonguardian)
Mrs Langley was born in Croydon, Britain in 1907 as one of the seven children of her parents. She worked in a laundry and as a chamber maid before meeting her husband Bob, a world war veteran and 28 years her senior in a Croydon pub. She looked after his look after his 10 children as a governess, and later married at 26.
I am wondering – did smoking killed or quitting killed Winnie ?
Well, she was old enough and outlived almost everybody she played with as a child. I am sure, cigarette factories can’t argue on this isolated fact that a habitual smoker lived through a century.