America's Oldest Man Keeps Rolling
CBS Evening News: At Age 112, Walter Breuning Has Good Health And Every Last Marble
-
Play CBS Video Video The Oldest Man In America Steve Hartman presents this week's "Assignment America" from Great Falls, Mont., where 112-year-old Walter Breuning proudly stands as the oldest man currently living in the nation.
-
Walter Breuning runs errands in Great Falls, Mont. (CBS)
-
Photo Essay Assignment America Steve Hartman On Assignment. More Photos
And he did.
Then he did it again ... and now he's doing it a third time.
Lots of people, including Jay Leno, have wanted an interview with Breuning. But no one wanted to travel all the way to Great Falls, Mont., to get it -- and that was the deal.
That is except for CBS News correspondent Steve Hartman, who figured, at age 112, the Oldest Man In America deserved to have people come to him.
What makes Breuning such a sought after interview is that he can be interviewed.
Typically by the time somebody gets to be the oldest man or woman in America, they either can't hear you or they answer every question with some crazy non sequitur about yesterday's lunch. But Breuning still has every last marble. He still remembers his grandfather talking about fighting in the war -- the Civil War.
He's the only man left born during the Cleveland administration. He can say where he was when President McKinley got shot, and went to school when America was being led by Theodore Roosevelt.
Under Taft, he got a job working with the railroad, earning $2.50 a week. "How do you like that?" Breuning asks today.
He signed up to serve in World War I but never got called. And by the time World War II rolled around, he was already too old.
Walter was married for 35 years, but his wife Agnes been dead for more than half a century. They never had any kids - and he never took a second wife.
Breuning says, "Second marriages never work. Even first marriages don't work today."
He now lives in an assisted living center, but needs no assistance. Once a week, weather permitting, he goes out and does errands.
"I go to the store and bank," he explains.
It wasn't necessarily Hartman's idea to get video of Breuning on his scooter for this story.
When he did, Breuning's friend Fred Feifer, a local weather man who set up the interview, helped save the 112 year old from rolling off the curb.
Apparently, bright sun blinds him. But other than that and some slight hearing difficulties, Breuning's in perfect health. He's not on any medicine and normally watches what he eats. He credits his longevity to diet.
"Especially if you keep that weight off there," he says. "Keep that weight off."
Says Breuning, "You come back in 4 or five years and I think I'll be here."
© MMIX, CBS Interactive Inc.. All Rights Reserved.
The secrets of tennis legend 



I'm going to Great Falls on Thursday April 30th. I would love to know where he lives so that I could talk to him. What a national treasure this man is. Thank you Steve Hartman for bring this gentleman into my life through your report.
Although I do find it odd, to have to remark , how older people give diffuse comments etc.
Mr Hartman probably would sure have missed this Gentleman,had it not been the local weatherman . Kudos to him !!!... and all of us ,who still try to talk to our elders .
. I do concur with the comment( above) that- this man is a living national treasure..
But again, why wait 4-5 years to visit him again.
Go back get his views and advice for example of the Great Depression.
. I'd even love a weekly ' Walter's comment ' ..end keep him inside- maybe by the fireplace, a la 'fireside chats' ..
- by debinok1 April 24, 2009 7:32 PM EDT
- Wow, 112 and still going. Good for him. Our older people are part of our history and can teach us so much if we would only take the time and listen.
- Reply to this comment
See all 16 Comments