At 110 years old, Vincent Dransfield still drives his car every day, getting coffee at the convenience store and buying lunch.
He lives independently in his own house in Little Falls, New Jersey, where he has resided since 1945.
The supercentenarian requires no help with daily living, so his grandchildren visit him once a week to bring him some groceries and call every other day to check in, but he’s otherwise self-sufficient.
Dransfield is in good health, other than dealing with achy knees and other minor issues, and navigates between the home’s main floor, his bedroom upstairs and the basem*nt where he does his laundry without a problem, his family says.
When asked how he feels at 110, Dransfield jokingly says he’s ready to put on boxing gloves and box.
“I manage to do everything,” he tells TODAY.com. “I drive pretty good.”
“He drives completely fine — better than some other people I see,” Erica Lista, Dransfield’s granddaughter, tells TODAY.com.
She and her brother periodically check Dransfield’s driving to make sure that he’s doing OK. Family, friends and doctors are amazed by his healthy longevity, she says, noting she has more health issues at 49 than her grandfather does at 110.
When Dransfield required an endoscopy recently for a swallowing problem, the medical staff was stunned he’d only had anesthesia once before in his entire life, Lista says. She noticed the anesthesiologist’s hands were shaking when he administered the medicine into a 110-year-old man.
It’s uncommon for men to live to 100 — only 15% percent of centenarians are male, according to the New England Centenarian Study based at Boston University. The reasons are unclear.
The club of supercentenarians — people who live to 110 or older — is even more exclusive. Men make up only about 10% of this age group, the study notes.
The oldest man in the world is currently 111 and lives in England, according to the Gerontology Research Group, which maintains a list of validated supercentenarians. Dransfield is currently the 8th oldest man on the list.
Born on March 28, 1914, Dransfield not only enjoys incredible longevity, but healthy longevity, with a fit mind and body. He says he has never had major diseases, like cancer or heart disease. Dransfield has just always been healthy, and has no headaches or backaches, Lista adds.
“I’ve been very, very, very lucky in my lifetime," Dransfield told TODAY.com in 2023.
He has one child, three grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren. His wife of 54 years died in 1992.
Many family members, friends and firefighters recently gathered at the firehouse where he once served as chief to celebrate his 110th birthday.
“The craziest part is just how excited people are to talk about him and celebrate him,” Lista says. “It’s just so heartwarming to see how many people think he’s as special as we do.”
Here is what to know about the supercentenarian and his advice for living a long life:
Spend time doing what you love
Dransfield spent more than 80 years serving as a member of the local volunteer fire department and was the chief for a period of time.
When asked what brought him happiness and kept him going in life, he quickly answers: “The fire department. … I met so many friends.”
Lista says her grandfather continued to be a regular at the fire house as he got older and was part of the “3 to 5 club.”
“After my grandmother passed away, that’s really what kept him going. Every day, he would go to the fire house from 3 to 5, and all the old guys would sit there and hang out. That was like his family,” she notes.
As for Dransfield’s professional life, he worked for 60 years — most of that as an auto parts manager — before retiring in his late 70s: “I still wanted to work, but my wife said, it’s time for you to quit,” he recalls.
Milk does a body good
Dransfield left school after 8th grade and went to work for a dairy farm at 15 to help support his family. He delivered milk for five years and drank as much of it as he wanted, which he attributes to giving him a healthy boost — especially during the Great Depression in the 1930s.
“I was drinking milk and eating well because I worked on a farm. And I often go back and think they gave me a good start in life and for my bones in my body,” Dransfield says.
Milk still plays a role in his life: The supercentenarian credits drinking Ovaltine — a milk flavoring and nutrition supplement — every day after breakfast for his longevity. He’s been so outspoken about it that when he when he turned 100, everyone drank Ovaltine at his birthday party, Lista says.
Stay active
Dransfield didn’t lift weights or exercise in a gym, but hekept movingthroughout his life.
“I was 21 years old when I joined the fire department and that’s the exercise I got every day — answered the fire alarms in Little Falls,” he says.
“I was active and ran out when the alarm went off for 40 years. Then for the next 40 years, (I continued) when I felt like it.”
Structured exercise amuses him. “He laughs at people who jog. He’s like, ‘Where are they running to?’” his granddaughter says.
Enjoy what you eat
The supercentenarian likes Italian food, hamburgers, salad, milk chocolate and other sweets. Hedrinks a cup of coffee every dayand occasionally drinks beer, but doesn’t enjoy other forms of alcohol.
He didn't exactly follow a Blue Zones diet.
“What’s crazy is he was not careful about his diet,” Lista says.
“He has eaten whatever he wants. He has never watched his weight. He’s never had to lose weight. He’s always been fit.”
At 110, Dransfield still cooks for himself, though that usually means heating up soup on the stove or microwaving prepared meals, Lista notes. He likes to buy meals from a restaurant down the road from his house.
It’s never too late to fix a bad habit
Dransfield started smoking when he was 50 after a fellow firefighter offered him a cigarette and he liked it. But about 20 years later, he quit.
“He told me one day that he was going to just stop smoking,” Lista recalls. “He threw the cigarettes out and that was it. He just never smoked again.”
Stay positive
Dransfield considers himself anoptimist. He also has a great sense of humor and likes knowing everybody’s name in town, his granddaughter says.
"Knowing people and loving people makes me live longer," Dransfield says.
“He always had such a positive upbeat attitude, even when my grandmother passed away. He lived for her, but he was determined to keep on living,” Lista adds.
“I keep positive. I never think any other way when something’s wrong,” Dransfield notes.
“I’m doing fine and I hope the good Lord keeps me that way.”
