Horatio “Ray” Jenkins, who died at the age of 104 recently, never entertained retirement as an option, says The Burlington Free Press. “I think that’s a big mistake,” Jenkins said in 2006, “to sit down and do nothing.” He left IBM at age 65 because of mandatory retirement, then got a job at the Champlain Valley Expo and kept working into his 90s. He was recognized as Vermont’s oldest worker at 100 and as the nation’s oldest a year later. His co-workers at the fairgrounds said he was exceptionally tidy and knew where everything was. People who interviewed him wondered if diet or work ethic was the secret to his longevity. He reportedly got out of bed at 4 or 5 a.m. each morning and ate his food plain – no gravy, mayonnaise, salt or pepper. Whatever his secret, it was probably his attitude: “Everyone should be working.” Jenkins lived that philosophy to the very end.