World’s Oldest Twins, 105, Say It Pays to Be Chewsy

Allie Hill is 105 years old today. So is her identical twin sister Maggie Lambeth. Ask them the secret of their longevity, and they’ll reply: “Chew gum.” The fact that neither one has a tooth in her head nor wears dentures apparently doesn’t faze them. Hill and Lambeth have lived all their lives within a few miles of each other in rural Davidson County, N.C. In fact, neither woman has ever been out of the county, not even to shop in nearby Winston-Salem. Between them they have 16 children, 48 grandchildren, 85 great-grandchildren and 31 great-great-grandchildren. Not surprisingly, the Guinness Book of World Records lists the sisters as the oldest twins in the world. Meanwhile, in Davisburg, Mich., the L’Esperance quintuplets--Alexandria, Danielle, Erica, Veronica and Raymond--celebrated their first birthdays this week. Maybe their mother, Michele, should buy them each a pack of gum.

--Chalk up a small victory for women’s rights in Iran. One of the three daughters of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini has applied to form a women’s association, according to the Iranian news agency IRNA. It quoted the daily Tehran Times as saying that Zahra Mostafavi had asked the Interior Ministry for permission to form the Women’s Society of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Mostafavi, 50, a university lecturer in philosophy, has been active in women’s affairs and was the host of an international conference in Tehran about women last year. The Tehran Times predicted that a large number of women would join Mostafavi’s society once it was formed, the news agency said. However, don’t expect its members to publicly burn their chadors.

--Mary Campbell, a fervent Democrat, was the last person to expect an invitation to President-elect Bush’s inauguration Jan. 20. But she got one--and she’s going. Campbell, a former Democratic member of the Clover, S.C., Town Council, got the unsolicited tickets in the mail last month. No one knows for sure, but her name may have something to do with the mystery. South Carolina Gov. Carroll A. Campbell Jr. and Bush, both Republicans, are buddies. Gov. Campbell, who will attend the inauguration, asked that his sister Mary be invited as well. But the sister, whose married name is Mary Carpenter, didn’t get the tickets. So the governor called for replacements for her. Tony Denny, executive director of the state Republican Party, said he wasn’t aware of any mix-up but said Mary Campbell is free to keep her tickets. “I don’t know her, but I hope she has a great time.”