In Rockland, Maine, a 101-year-old woman still catches lobster together with her 78-year-old son. This mother-and-son duo is still going out and hauling 200 lobster traps three days a week.
Virginia Oliver, or Ginny as her friends call her, is blessed with a lot of time and makes her time worth living by doing what she loves: lobstering. She was born on Claredon Street in Rockland at her parent's home in June 1920 and now lives on the same street where she also raised her four children.
The Lobster Lady
Virginia is joined by her 78-year-old son, Max, in catching lobsters. They wake up at quarter to five to prepare for lobstering aboard her late husband's boat that he named "Virginia" after his wife.
Her sea legs may no longer be as sturdy as they were before, but she might be more at ease on her rocking boat than any other place, according to News Center Maine.
Max's job is to haul the pots while Virginia bands the lobsters. After injuring her right wrist some years ago, Virginia now uses her left hand to do the banding. She also fills the bait bags with poggies when she is not busy. She waits on the side of the boat for her son to catch up after work.
"They call me the Lobster Lady," Virginia told the news outlet.
Virginia said that the thing she likes the most in lobstering is being the boss. She likes the independence that life on the water gives her and her family, but she does not need to go when she does not want to.
Oldest Licensed Lobster Fishing Person
Virginia is dubbed as the Lobster Lady, but she could also be the oldest living lobster fishing person in Maine or perhaps the whole world, as what Rockland Historical Society suspects.
According to Boingboing, Virginia began her lobstering career in 1928 when she was only eight years old. But up until now, she still goes lobstering with her son three times a week, hauling 200 lobster traps.
The centenarian was supposed to be hailed as the Grand Marshall of the Maine Lobster Festival last year, but the event was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Nonetheless, she still enjoyed this with a short film about her life that aired o June 6, 2020, on Maine Coast TV on her 100th birthday.
Her advice for living a long life of lobstering is to keep going. "I have friends. Maybe they've lost their husbands. They don't do nothin'. You got to keep going," Virginia said, as quoted by the news outlet.
This advice makes sense as living a sedentary lifestyle is associated with various diseases that decrease a person's lifetime. According to Harvard Health Publishing, everyday activities that are incorporated with walking can build up leg muscles that may help a person live longer. Muscle loss on the legs is associated with slower walking speeds among older adults.
Virginia spends most of her days driving her white pick-up truck down the street to Hannaford when she is done lobstering. When asked when she will retire, she said that only after she died.
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