Successful Aging

     Just heard that Art Linkletter died today. He had a good long run. We should all be so lucky. But his death does give anyone in my generation pause for reflection. He was a part of my childhood. A fixture of it. He made my parents smile. A lot. Now he is another measure of what once was. 

      I decided to post this previously published article I wrote about him a few years ago. Everyone is familiar with his television work but he was also a prolific author.

Art Linkletter on Successful Aging

by Tammi J Truax
Wow! is pretty much all I could think after hearing Art Linkletter speak when he came to town recently to entertain a large crowd of smiling people, as he has been doing for the last sixty years.

Called the poster child for aging the 95 year old gentleman of radio and television history was brought to Portsmouth by The Boulders at Riverwoods, and packed the grand ballroom at The Sheraton Hotel twice in one day.

Still working very hard, and doing very well, it seems more than fair that he should give us all some tips on successful aging, which he did throughout his off-the-cuff talk. Because he doesn’t prepare a speech he does ramble a bit, jumping from such varied topics as his own childhood to cell division to the current state of Medicare, but it keeps his talk spontaneous and very humorous.

Just some of Mr. Linkletter’s accomplishments are having two of the longest running TV shows in history (House Party and People are Funny), publishing 28 books (three of which are autobiographies), running several businesses and foundations, traveling 100,000 miles a year to lecture and do charity work, receiving 28 honorary doctorates, and a successful marriage of 73 years which has produced 18 great-grandchildren so far.

At first three autobiographies seemed excessive to me, but after hearing him speak I can see how it would take three volumes to get the job done. Mr. Linkletter has had a fascinating life. Abandoned by his birth parents he was adopted by an older Baptist preacher and his wife, in a part of Saskatchewan called Moose Jaw. Maturing just in time for the crash and the great depression he became a bonafide railroad hobo for a couple of years before settling in California to go to college to become a high school English teacher. While still in school serendipity got him into entertainment radio at KGB, where he started the “man on the street” interview concept. Broadcasting soon lead to television, a brand new medium that Mr. Linkletter helped to shape. He admits that it was in talking to kids that he discovered the gold mine in his career, and estimates that he has interviewed 27,000 children over the years.

He speaks with sadness and serious conviction about how his life changed forever in 1970 when his 20 year old daughter took her own life, probably unintentionally, while under the influence of LSD. Soon after her death he began several decades of work in drug abuse prevention, and is now concerned and educating others about seniors misusing drugs.

Most recently he has taken on serious senior advocacy including promoting Alzheimer’s research. He is founding member and chairman of the board of The Center on Aging at UCLA. Two of his books are specifically aimed at seniors, and based on my experience hearing Mr. Linkletter speak, are certainly worth checking out. They are titled; Old Age is not for Sissies, and the just released, How to Make the Rest of Your Life the Best of Your Life. He should know.
A Few of Art’s Tips for Successful Aging

Try new things.

Laugh a lot.

Adapt to change.

Plan for your future.

Volunteer for a charity.

Make new friends.

Have faith in something.

Do your very best.



“You have an intellectual and spiritual obligation to ask ‘Am I happy, if not, why not?’”

~ Art Linkletter

For more information about Art Linkletter’s work on aging visit www.aging.ucla.edu.