Letters to the Editor: What it was like to know L.A.’s oldest man, Morrie Markoff

To the editor: Having had the pleasure of knowing Morrie Markoff and many of his family members for much of my life, I feel Steve Lopez’s column about him couldn’t have been a more perfect tribute. He captured Morrie’s humanity, creativity and curiosity, as well as the loving bond formed with his caregiver Charito.

I had so much fun creating song parodies for his 100th birthday party and then his 110th (“That’s Our Morrie” was sung to “That’s Amore”). Hearing Morrie laugh was such a joy. The family donating his brain for research allows Morrie to continue contributing to the world in which he so actively participated.

At age 108, Morrie was interviewed on Spectrum News. The reporter shared that for exercise during the COVID-19 pandemic, Morrie would walk around his kitchen table five times, and if he felt really energetic, he added a leaf.

Morrie added a leaf and more to everything he did and to the lives of everyone lucky enough to know him — and I’ll leaf it at that

Jeannine Frank, Los Angeles

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To the editor: Thanks to Lopez for his wonderful column on Morrie Markoff, who died this month at age 110, the oldest man in the U.S., who said he never had a boring day in his life.

It reminded me of my mother, who died at age 85. Though blind and handicapped, she “watched” Dodger games because my brother fixed our TV so she could hear Vin Scully’s voice. I hope to emulate my mother to age 85.

My husband had an even more vigorous reaction to Lopez’s column. His mother lived to 105, only succumbing recently to COVID-19.

Lopez’s column got me up to walk to Target to do some serious shopping damage for my four grandchildren.

Bonnie Selway, Manhattan Beach