Christian Mortensen, age 114, was quick to see the implication when told Monday that the world's oldest person, a 122-year-old Frenchwoman, had died.
"He simply said: `Well, then I guess that makes me the oldest person in the world,' " said JoAnne Maxwell, administrator of the northern California retirement home where Mortensen lives.The Danish-born Mortensen is believed to be the world's oldest person following the death of Jeanne Calment in Arles, France, on Monday.
Maxwell, administrator of the Aldersly Garden retirement community in San Rafael, 10 miles north of San Francisco, said Mortensen could not talk to a reporter on the telephone because he was hard of hearing.
She said Mortensen was told of Calment's death by a nurse at the retirement home, where he has lived since 1978.
Mortensen, born in Skaarup, Denmark in 1882, came to the United States in 1903, working as a tailor, milkman and streetcar repair man. He is due to celebrate his 115th birthday Aug. 16.
Maxwell said Mortensen was "doing pretty well." He usually gets around by wheelchair because walking wears him out, but he does sometimes walk, she said.
He has a "wonderful sense of humor" and "just enjoys life," she added.
Maxwell said Mortensen probably attributes his longevity to his lifestyle. He drinks a lot of bottled water, does not drink alcohol but enjoys the occasional cigar, Maxwell said.
Demographers at the University of California at Berkeley said in 1995 that Mortensen was the oldest man alive whose age they could verify. At that time, Calment outdid him as the oldest person in the world.