‘She saw so much’: California’s oldest person, longtime Berkeley resident, dies at 114

Over 114 years – a time that noticed the USA evolve from horse-and-buggy commutes to its first area tourism flights – Mila Mangold by no means took with no consideration her front-row seat to the world’s most historic moments.

“She noticed a lot of the historical past of this nation,” mentioned her son, Donald Mangold. “She was very proud to be an American.”

Then once more, virtually nobody in California may declare to have seen extra.

Mangold, a longtime Berkeley resident who held the title of California’s oldest individual, died July 2 on the age of 114, her son confirmed on Wednesday. She held the title for a bit greater than a yr, having been born per week earlier than a Mendocino County girl who now bears that honor, mentioned Robert Younger, who leads the Supercentenarian Analysis and Database Division of the Los Angeles-based Gerontology Analysis Group.

Mangold, who had most not too long ago been residing in an El Cerrito assisted residing middle, was the second-oldest individual within the nation and the seventh-oldest on this planet, Younger mentioned. And as such, she bore witness to 2 world wars, two international pandemics almost a century aside and the proliferation of know-how that, when she was born, had but to be dreamed of by science fiction writers in Hollywood.

Then once more, a film wouldn’t be filmed from begin to end in Hollywood for one more three years.

“She was very a lot conscious the nation had handed by rather a lot,” Donald Mangold mentioned. “She was very joyful that the nation held collectively even by the tumultuous instances.”

Born in a quaint Nebraska dwelling per week earlier than neighboring Oklahoma turned a state, Mila Mangold was the second-youngest of 4 siblings in a household whose mother and father had not too long ago immigrated from Prague in former Czechoslovakia.

It was there in Wilber, Neb., that she watched trains of “Doughboys” – a nickname for American troopers certain for Europe throughout World Conflict I – roll by city on their technique to warships ready on the East Coast.

And it was in Nebraska that she caught a sobering glimpse of life amid a pandemic because the Spanish flu of 1918 unfold the world over. She watched in unhappiness and concern as her neighbors throughout the road succumbed to the virus, which additionally appeared to sicken her mom.

“It made an impression on her,” mentioned Donald Mangold, recalling Mila Mangold’s surprise at how the flu managed to make its technique to their rural neighborhood. “It exhibits how vital the flu was at the moment.”

Her household moved to Los Angeles within the Twenties, and shortly after, settled in Berkeley. It was there she met her future husband, Walter Mangold, a so-called “sanitarian” who turned a pioneering determine within the area of environmental and public well being. He died in 1978, and his identify now graces the annual award for environmental well being work by the Nationwide Environmental Well being Affiliation.

Mila Mangold labored as his secretary for a few years till transitioning right into a homemaker with the beginning of her solely youngster, Donald, in 1945. She is survived by him and his three youngsters.

For all these years, Mila Mangold exuded a type of kinetic vitality that – relatively than put on her down – appeared to increase her life longer than virtually anybody within the state’s recorded historical past.

On the age of 90, she strayed away from her household and satisfied a information to permit her to stroll up the Nice Wall of China. She drove the identical automobile – a traditional, gentle blue 1960 Ford Falcon – till the age of 95. And he or she largely eschewed the assistance of a wheelchair till just some years in the past.

She usually espoused the advantages of train – strolling and upside-down sit-ups have been amongst her favourite actions.

However Donald Mangold discovered that the best elixir of youth gave the impression to be her effervescent thoughts and unyielding sense of curiosity. It’s a lesson, he mentioned, that others can take as they attempt to match her spectacular longevity.

“She was at all times inquisitive,” Donald Mangold mentioned. “And regardless that she was a homemaker and stayed at dwelling, she nonetheless was enthusiastic about issues.

“She wished to stroll up the Nice Wall as a result of she wished to see what it was like up there. She was not somebody who simply lived a self-enclosed life. She appreciated to get out, be with folks and see new issues.”