Abner Gaston Jr.’s days are often busy with doctor’s appointments or church services, but he tries to find a few hours each day to sit in his favorite chair in his living room and read.
The 98-year-old doesn’t pore over weighty history books like he did decades ago; he now finds pleasure in reading children’s books and the Bible.
“It gets your mind off of things,” Gaston told The Washington Post.
This summer, Gaston, who lives in San Diego, completed his local library’s summer reading challenge for the second consecutive year. The program asks participants — most of whom are in elementary school — to read at least 10 books or read for at least 10 hours.
Gaston mostly selected children’s books to read, including “Green Eggs and Ham” and “The Cat in the Hat” by Dr. Seuss and “The Berenstain Bears Forget Their Manners” by Stan and Jan Berenstain because that’s what he enjoys.
Gaston’s son, Irvin Gaston, said as his father nears 100, reading is partly “what’s keeping him alive.”
“He needs something to do,” said Irvin, 70. “And this would be a way to … meet other people and get out of the house.”
Growing up in Palestine, Texas, Abner, who’s Black, said he learned to read in segregated public schools and enjoyed reading history books. He built a career as a mechanic while raising four children with his now-deceased wife, Norma Gaston, and at one point, Abner said, he studied history at a San Diego community college.
“He always wanted to … escape the blue collar work,” Irvin said, “and focus more on, I guess, using your brains as opposed to your hands.”
Irvin said he sometimes found his father immersed in sociology and psychology textbooks.
Research has found that reading is connected to slower rates of cognitive decline in older adults and longer lives. Reading fiction, in particular, is linked to strong social cognition — how we think about and interact with others.
However, research has also found that reading ability can decline with age and older readers typically read slower than younger readers.
“One way that aging readers ‘simplify’ the reading experience is by sticking with authors or series of books,” Elizabeth Stine-Morrow, professor emerita in educational psychology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, said in an email to The Washington Post.
The San Diego Public Library encourages people of all ages to sign up for its summer reading program, but the oldest readers are typically in their 60s, said Elsie Rivas, a library assistant.
“I was really surprised,” Rivas said, “at finding someone that was 98 years old.”
Abner Gaston, with help from his family to travel to and from the library, embarked on the challenge for the first time last year. He said he’s “blessed” to still be able to read.
“It gets you involved,” Gaston said, “and gives you the knowledge of other people.”
Some reading program finishers receive free books, history museum passes or chicken wings as prizes. Gaston just wanted a certificate, so Rivas said she made him one.
“This certificate is presented to Abner Gaston Jr. in honor of completing the summer reading program of the San Diego Public Library-Skyline Hills Branch at 98 years young,” reads Gaston’s certificate, which hangs on the wall in his dining room.
Gaston said he’ll continue reading this fall. When asked whether he’ll take on the library’s reading challenge next summer, Gaston replied: “Probably.”
Then he paused before answering more definitively.
“Yes,” he said. “I will.”
The post At 98, he took on a summer reading challenge. He plans to do it again at 99. appeared first on Washington Post.
