They were of his grandfather’s tales of killing Southerners in the US Civil War. Breuning was 3 and horrified: “I thought that was a hell of a thing to say.” But the stories stuck, becoming the first building blocks into what would develop into a deceptively simple philosophy that Breuning, the world’s oldest man at 114 before he died, credited to his longevity.
Here’s the world’s oldest man’s secret to a long life: * Embrace change, even when the change slaps you in the face. (“Every change is good.”) * Eat two meals a day (“That’s all you need.”) * Work as long as you can (“That money’s going to come in handy.”) * Help others (“The more you do for others, the better shape you’re in.”) Then there’s the hardest part. It’s a lesson Breuning said he learned from his grandfather: Accept death. “We’re going to die. Some people are scared of dying. Never be afraid to die. Because you’re born to die,” he said. Breuning died of natural causes in a Great Falls hospital where he had been a patient for much of April with an undisclosed illness.
