What is the secret to a long and successful life?

As part of our series Aging Matters at Colorado MattersWe asked some of Colorado’s oldest residents what memories and experiences have been most meaningful over the years.

Here are their stories:

Colonel James Harvey, 101, on the importance of humor and laughter every day

Courtesy of Kathy Harvey

Colonel James HarveyAt 101 years old, he maintains a dry sense of humor that, along with sheer skill and determination, likely helped him overcome the obstacles he faced during his long life.

Harvey was initially rejected from the US military when he applied to be a pilot because he is black, but he eventually achieved his childhood dream of becoming a fighter pilot. Harvey is known as a member of an elite group of Tuskegee Airmen who were black military pilots during World War II and beyond.

Colonel Harvey and a team of his fellow Tuskegee Airmen underscored their flying prowess when they won the first Top Gun competition in Las Vegas in 1949. A year ago, Colonel Harvey was officially recognized for his military service with an honorary promotion to the rank . of the Colonel during halftime of a US Air Force Academy football game.

Harvey says his secret to a long life is: “Have a good sense of humor, laugh a lot every day, and laugh out loud (fall on the floor laughing) at least once a month.”

Nancy Tipton, 101, on the phrase “This too shall pass”

Andrea Dukakis/CPR News

Nancy Tipton She says her whole life that she has been blessed. The 101-year-old great-grandmother lives in Holly Creek in Centennial.

As a young woman, she worked as a code-breaker during World War II and then at the Pentagon before moving to Colorado, where she worked as a columnist for the Denver Post.

She shares her thoughts on longevity and optimism and her favorite saying: “This too shall pass.”

Bill Powell, 102, exercises and eats ice cream every day

Courtesy of Barbara Vowles

Bill PowellThe 102-year-old has lived through seismic events, including the dropping of the atomic bomb, the civil rights movement and 9/11. And he has played his own role in American history as an Air Force pilot during World War II. Powell, who lives in Fort Collins, spent his career working in Miami-Dade County’s public works department, where he eventually became its director.

When he retired in the 1980s, county commissioners honored him by calling the new bridge connecting Miami to Key Biscayne, Florida, the William M. Powell Bridge. She eventually moved to Fort Collins, where her daughter lives.

Powell said he lives by the philosophy: don’t do anything meaningless, have a good family, exercise every day and “have ice cream every day.”