A set of twin sister and brother just turned 100 and they have shared their sinple secret to longevity, having come from a family where most members lived for very long.
Jane Southwick was born to Loreen Abbott a century ago. However, after she popped out, everyone was shocked to see there was still another baby coming.
“They had no idea Bill was in there,” says Southwick in an interview at her Livermore, California home.
“Back then, they didn’t have ultrasounds and all of that. After I was born, they were like, ‘Wait. There’s another [baby].’ ”
The twins, Jane and Bill Abbott, were born in Hawaii on April 8, 1926. They travelled a month later for New York with cabin drawers serving as their cribs.
The twins with their elder brother Richard
In the 10 decades since, they have lived through historic eras and suffered personal losses, survived cancer and a heart attack.
But as they tell PEOPLE, with one sibling finishing the other’s thought: “We’re still kids.”
Their dad, Royal Abbott, was stationed with the Navy in Hawaii at the time and their mom was a choir director. The twins spent their childhoods between Hawaii, the U.S. mainland and Canada and attended high schools in California, in Long Beach and Oakland.
Speaking about her many, many years, Southwick said there were ups and downs.
“I retired in the ‘80s and had breast cancer soon after that,” she says. “I had one breast removed and I’ve had pulmonary problems, but it’s just a matter of life. Things happen.”
Her twin brother Bill, who lives one town over in Pleasanton, says he had been relatively healthy until a heart attack about a decade ago.
“It didn’t really feel like a heart attack,” he says. “But I did get stents.”
He also has kidney issues.
Nancy moved in to help with her mother in 2005 after leaving her own job in Oregon and just ended up staying. She also helps Bill, who lives alone, with his doctor appointments and shopping.
“I steal her a lot,” he says.
