GRAND RAPIDS, MI (WOOD/CNN) - Last summer, Ira Spieker reached a major milestone with his twin sister, Ida. They turned 100, and they weren’t bashful about how they’d lived so long.
“I just don’t drink and chew,” Ida said with a laugh.
Her brother said he's led a similarly virtuous life.
“I didn’t chew or smoke tobacco, and I didn’t drink the bootleg whiskey,” Ira said. “And I didn’t chase a lot of women. I let them chase me.”
Now with another year to reflect upon, Ira will once again travel to Iowa to celebrate 101 years with his sister.
“People ask me how did we reach 101, and I say, well, you have to rely on the strength of the lord," he said.
But about a month ago, it wasn’t clear if Ira would even be able to make the trip. He landed in the ICU with a staph infection after a surgery.
“The physicians were saying. ‘I don’t think he’s going to make it,’ but I kept saying, ‘You don’t know my dad, and you have to give him a fighting chance,’” said Ira’s son, Steve Spieker.”It’s just because I know who he is: the Energizer bunny.”
Since celebrating their centennial, their families have tried to figure out if Ida and Ira hold some sort of record.
“As far as we know, they are the oldest living brother-sister twins in the United States, which is mind-boggling,” Steve Spieker said.
Now that Ira is another year wiser, he was asked if he had any new advice on living a long, healthy life.
“You have to have a positive outlook on life and not a negative one,” he said. “You can see a lot of evil out there, but you can’t do too much about it. But if you encourage someone, you can do a lot more for them.
“I always say, you don’t get too many friends by kickin’ ‘em, but you get more friends by complimenting them and helping them out.”
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