106-Year-Old Woman Says Staying Single Is Key to Long Life

The staunchly independent 106-year-old Madeline Dye of Heeley, in South Yorkshire, England, likes to credit the single life for her long one.

Dye, born in 1912, worked as a bookbinder. But long after her retirement she remained independent, and did not set foot inside a nursing home until she she took a hard fall at 103. According to the Deccan Chronicle, Dye walked two miles to work, four times a day, on a steep hill. But when asked about the secret to her long life, it isn’t consistent daily cardio she cites.

“Whenever anyone asks her about her past romances or if she has a husband, she says, ‘I’ve never had one, that’s why I’m this age,'” said her niece Diana Heaton. “She says she has not had the stresses of marriage; it’s tongue-in-cheek more than anything. She has always loved her clothes and has always dressed immaculately.”

Now that Dye must live somewhere she can receive assistance, Heaton said that “she does still dress herself and goes into the common room and chats with people. She has a great sense of humor still, she has never lost it.” Even after everything, at 106, Dye “walks freely without a stick and is very independent.”

Whether it be the steak and chops she cooked for herself, her daily exercise, her complete avoidance of pubs, her fierce independence, or the lack of men, Dye seems to be doing something right. She celebrated the 106th anniversary of her birth with a family trip to Baslow, Derbyshire, England, as well as the Norton Lees Hall care home where she lives.