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South African Fredie Blom celebrated his 116th birthday on Friday undeterred by the coronavirus crisis, more than 100 years since the Spanish flu pandemic killed his sister.
“I have lived so long by the grace of God,” said Blom, possibly one of the oldest men in the world.
He lit a cigarette and recalled the 1918 pandemic that left tens of millions of people dead worldwide, including his sister.
Blom was born in 1904 in the rural city of Adelaide, hidden near the Great Winterberg mountain range in the South African province of Eastern Cape.
He is older than a 112-year-old British resident named in Guinness World Records in March as the oldest living man in the world. Blom’s age has not yet been verified by the body.
The grandchildren buzzed as Blom sat in the front yard of their home. Neighbors came soon after to sing happy birthday.
Blom has spent most of his life working on farms around Cape Town. He met his wife Jeanette, 86, at a dance and won her heart with her joyous movements.
The couple has been married for almost fifty years. They moved to the Delft suburb of Cape Town three decades ago.
However, at his great age, he says he won’t let the coronavirus pandemic scare him off.
And he did not hesitate in his words about the President of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, complaining about the nationwide ban on the sale of cigarettes as part of a series of closure measures.
“He doesn’t know what he’s doing,” Blom complained, adding that cigarettes were his only birthday wish this year.
Blom stopped visiting doctors more than two years ago, alleging that he was tired of being pricked and molested.
“Now she only takes two Disprins a day, but sometimes she steals my pills,” Jeanette said, laughing warmly at her stubborn husband.
Although Blom never had children, he adopted Jeanette’s two from a previous marriage as his own.
“He has done everything for us,” said Blom’s stepdaughter Jasmien Toerien, 38.
“He woke up at three or four in the morning to ride his bike to work,” he fondly recalls. “He loves animals and gardening.”
