Laguna Hills man, who turns 106 on Sunday, grateful for his family life
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Mel Livingston figures that there are two ways he has made it to 106 years old, and they are not equally aligned.
“How I got here, I cannot tell you,” he said. “I would say, it’s 99% luck, and the other 1% is taking care of yourself.”
Livingston turns 106 on Sunday. What he does know is that he has a family that is glad he’s around — three daughters and son-in-laws, seven grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren.
“We’re very family oriented,” said Livingston, glancing at his youngest daughter, Barbara Van Noppen. “This one here is exceptional.”
Van Noppen, 67, and her husband David took Livingston in at their Laguna Hills home last month. He has his own bedroom, and a bathroom with grab bars and a raised toilet seat.
“He doesn’t qualify for a nursing home, because he does everything by himself,” Barbara Van Noppen said. “And we didn’t want him in a nursing home, either … He does all his own showering and his hygiene. He does everything himself.”
Livingston had been living in a senior living facility in Buffalo, N.Y. with his longtime partner, Sandra Morrison, who eventually developed dementia. Livingston’s wife of nearly 50 years, Sophie, died of ovarian cancer in 1990.
Livingston, originally from Pittsburgh, is a World War II veteran. He saw active duty around Europe in the U.S. Army 20th Armored Division.
“When I first got in, they put me in the tanks,” he said. “Well, I had claustrophobia in there. So I finally got out of there, and I was in what they call a half-track. It was open, and we pulled a 105 [millimeter] howitzer. So we were always behind the lines by two or three miles.”
After his Army tenure concluded, he was the longtime owner of a men’s wear store, Mel’s Men’s Wear, in a New York town called Hamburg.
Even at 106, Livingston gets around just fine with the help of his walker. He is currently enjoying the sunny weather of a Southern California summer; he spent winters in Palm Springs every year for decades.
Around Buffalo, people would stop and confuse him for former Buffalo Bills football coach Marv Levy.
Livingston was a longtime golfer and collects stamps and coins, along with playing competitive Scrabble. He drove a car until recently.
“They finally took the car away at 101,” he said with a smile.
Barbara Van Noppen, an associate professor of psychiatry at USC, said her sister and brother-in-law will be in town this weekend for a proper birthday celebration for her father.
“He does not miss a beat, he’s up to date on everything,” Van Noppen said. “He’s really an anomaly. It’s incredible. Fully functioning, fully cognitive.
“In fact, we wish he wasn’t so on top of everything,” she added with a laugh. “He’s the one who asked, ‘Do I need a Real ID to travel?’ My sisters and I completely forgot about that.”
