Your Wish Has Been Granted

Seniors are seeing their dreams come true, thanks to a former Olympic athlete

- BY Eric Raskin

IT HAD BEEN more than 10 years since they'd all been together like this, and the three sisters' eyes filled with tears. The eldest, Rubye Cox, kept warm under a red plush blanket while her two 'kid' sisters, Ruth Branum and Rose Shloss, each held one of her hands.

"You were the smartest one in the family," Rose told Rubye as they sat side by side. “If I had a problem, I always went to you.”

They retold their favourite stories, they laughed, and Rose even held five-month-old Leela, the newest member of the extended family.

Oh, worth mentioning: Rose was more than a century older than the baby in her arms. And that wasn't the largest age gap in the room. Rose was 101 years of age at the time, while Ruth was 104 and Rubye was 110.

These three centenarians were enjoying an overdue reunion, courtesy of Wish of a Lifetime, a nonprofit that flew Rose in from Florida and Ruth from Oklahoma to visit Rubye at her retirement home in Rhode Island.