Ciggie lover lived to 105

The Sun (U.K.) ^ | December 15, 2004 | LUCY HAGAN

[Stoat]

Ciggie lover lived to 105

Life's one long drag ... Marie Ellis puffs away at her nursing home
 

By LUCY HAGAN

CIGGIE-loving Marie Ellis was laid to rest yesterday — after living to 105 despite smoking nearly half a million fags.

Marie, who died from heart failure caused by old age, had puffed 15 a day since she was 15-years-old.

The ex-typist was cremated clutching a packet of her favourite Benson & Hedges with flowers in the shape of a cigarette laid on top of her coffin.

Staff and residents from the nursing home she had lived in for the past 15 years sent her off with a rousing version of the song Smoke Gets In Your Eyes.

Maria Kallis, matron of Eaton Lodge in Westgate, Kent, said: “We all remember Marie for smoking, so we are getting a concrete ashtray out in the garden as a memorial to her.

“She smoked right up to the end, having her last cigarette just two days before her death.”


 

Ashes to ashes ... floral tribute in shape of ciggie
 

Marie, who never married or had kids, also delighted in an unhealthy diet.

She always had three sugars in her coffee, loved a drop of sherry and scoffed sweets and cakes — often refusing to eat savoury food.

But Marie remained incredibly healthy.

She had all her teeth and never even suffered as much as a smoker’s cough from her ciggies.

Mrs Kallis said: “Our doctor used to raise his arms in bewilderment when he came to see her.

“He’d say, ‘Don’t encourage her’ — but she defied all medical reasoning.

“She had a lovely send-off. A couple of people had a smoke outside the chapel in her honour both before and after the service.”
 

[Conspiracy Guy]

No prob

[Conspiracy Guy]

Old is relative.

[Kay Syrah]

Old is relative.

Yes, I am the oldest relative on my side of the family. How did you know? But it was a small family, and I am still young. LOL.

[Severa]

It's interesting how things like that work out. Take my mom's parents, originally from Cuba. My abuelo (mom's dad) died at age 78 in a nursing home when I was a kid (explaining my deep seated hatred of those places). Up until his last, he was fond of his Cuban cigars.

My abuela (mom's mom), who lived around all that cigar smoke, outlived him by 17 yrs. She passed on peacefully in her sleep last year at age 95.

[Conspiracy Guy]

LOL

[martin_fierro]

Oh, ol' Lucy Hagan definitely had fun writing this one.

• The heavy smoker was ... was ... cremated! Cluthing a pack of her favorite smokes!
• "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes"
• And on and on.

I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

[Madame Dufarge]

I have a friend on Cape Cod who was a CNA. She used to take care of a lady who was paying huge amounts to live at one of the zillions of assisted living places there. She wasn't allowed to smoke in her own overpriced apartment.

There's a lot to be said for dying on your own front porch with a rifle across your knees.

[SaveTheChief]

That's impossible. Everyone knows that exposure to even second hand smoke within 100 square feet of the smoker outdoors on a windy day will kill a person within weeks. Those very convincing and truthful commercials told me so.

[Polyxene]

I definitely think genes have a lot to do with living a long life (or short), regardless of your lifestyle. Both of my grandfathers chewed tobacco, ate food cooked in lard, and generally ate everything the food nazis tell you not to eat, and they both lived into their mid-90's.

[mugs99]

I joined the AARP to get the cheaper auto insurance. Turned out to cost $109 per year more than the AAA I have. They spam me every month with all kinds of insurance scams. I see no benefit at all in belonging to this boiler room sales group. I will not be renewing my membership.

If I ever reach the point where I can't take care of myself I will end my own life like a man, not a droolling carcass tied to a chair in a nursing home!

[Protagoras]

Everybody has a perfect right to do self destructive things to themselves. Some even get away with it.

[SheLion]

There's a lot to be said for dying on your own front porch with a rifle across your knees.

Without a doubt.

I sure pray I never end up in a home. Have the run of your own home, then get too sick to be alone, go to a nursing home, and still wish you were dead.

I couldn't put up with living in a nursing home. And the noise! Those places are so noisy.

[Madame Dufarge]

Unbelievably noisy.

My grandmother was in a nursing home for a short period, and the poor man in the room across from her cried out for his deceased wife, in a delerium, all day long.

[Conspiracy Guy]

I feel the same aas you.

[Mears]

I'm sure a lot of folks in nursing homes would feel as you do.The problem is their choice to "take their life like a man" was taken away from them,often due to a stroke.

I don't see them as drooling carcasses,I see them as human beings.

[TOUGH STOUGH]

"I don't see them as drooling carcasses,I see them as human beings."

Absolutley agreed.

[mugs99]

Not many of us left!

[Conspiracy Guy]

I need a quality to life.