Biography
Christian Mortensen was born the son of a tailor in the village of Skårup, near the city of Skanderborg, Denmark, on August 16, 1882. He began work as a tailor's apprentice in Skanderborg at age 16, in 1898, and later took work as a farmhand.
Mortensen emigrated to the United States in 1903. He traveled while working as a tailor but settled in Chicago where he had relatives. Mortensen worked various trades including as a milkman for Borden's Milk, as a restaurateur, and as a factory worker for the Continental Can Company. He was married for less than ten years, divorced and had no children. He did not remarry.
In 1950, Mortensen retired near Galveston Bay, Texas. Then, 28 years later at the age of 96, he moved to a retirement home in San Rafael, California. Mortensen claimed he rode his bicycle to the Aldersly Retirement Community, telling the staff that he was there to stay. Mortensen lived at Aldersly until his death in 1998.
Mortensen enjoyed an occasional cigar and insisted that smoking in moderation was not unhealthy. Mortensen preferred a vegetarian diet. He also drank boiled water. Mortensen was legally blind towards the end of his life and spent much of his time in a wheelchair listening to the radio.
On his 115th birthday Mortensen gave his advice for a long life: "Friends, a good cigar, drinking lots of good water, no alcohol, staying positive and lots of singing will keep you alive for a long time."
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