Olive Riley, 'World's Oldest Blogger,' Dies At 108

Olive Riley (October 20, 1899 – July 12, 2008) was an Australian woman, believed to have been the world's oldest blogger. She began her blog The Life of Riley in February 2007 at the age of 107 and made her final post on June 26, 2008 from a nursing home in Woy Woy, New South Wales, complaining of a cough about two weeks before she died at the age of 108. She had posted over 70 entries, as well as several video posts on YouTube.

Olive Riley died at the age of 108, according to the Associated Press. Her final days were spent at a nursing facility in Woy Woy, New South Wales, Australia where she continued to chronicle her life growing up in the Outback, raising kids, and working as a bartender and farm cook on a her blog, The Life of Riley. Upon news of her death, her blog received a flurry of hits and experienced technical difficulties. You may view her temporary blog - http://worldsoldestblogger.blogspot.com/

Here's an excerpt of one of her final posts:

Hello again to all my friends.

You 21st century people live a different life than the one I lived as a youngster in the early 1900s. Take Washing Day, for instance. These days you just toss your dirty clothes into a washing machine, press a few switches, and it's done.

I remember scratching around to find a few pieces of wood to fire the copper for Mum. Sometimes I'd find a broken wooden fruit box that I'd split with a tommyhawk. Sometimes I'd gather some twigs and dead branches, and use them for firewood.

When the water in the copper began to boil, Mum would add a cupful of soap chips, and throw in a cube of Reckitt's Blue wrapped in a muslin bag to whiten the clothes. Then she put in all the dirty clothes, first rubbing out the stains with a bar of Sunlight soap. She used a corrugated washing board for that.

It's nice to see an older generation take hold of technology to share their own stories. Plus, Olive Riley showed everyone that you're never to old to blog! May she rest in peace.

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