AILSA CHANG, HOST:
Maine's oldest lobsterman has died at the age of 105.
JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
Some may know her as Virginia, or Ginny, Oliver, but most know her as the lobster lady.
CHANG: That's right. A woman of the sea, Oliver made a living fishing for lobsters. But it was also her passion. She started heading out on the water with her father and brother when she was just 8 years old.
SUMMERS: She spent over 90 years on Maine's coast until a few years before her death.
CHANG: She was a beloved icon in Maine, for sure, but she also got national recognition. Here she is on "CBS Sunday Morning," talking about the time she had to get stitches from a work injury.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "CBS SUNDAY MORNING")
VIRGINIA OLIVER: And the doctor said to me, what are you out there lobstering for? And I said, because I want to.
SUMMERS: Oliver was so remarkable, in fact, that author Barbara Walsh wrote a children's book about her.
BARBARA WALSH: She was a storyteller and just delightful to be around 'cause she was always laughing. Nothing fazed her. She had a spark.
CHANG: Oliver and Walsh became really good friends.
WALSH: She was a fighter and sassy and, you know, would always say, whether she was on land or at sea, I'm the boss. And you didn't mess with Ginny.
CHANG: Walsh said that Oliver's philosophy in life was pretty simple.
WALSH: You've got to keep moving. Get out of the chair or you're going to end up in a wheelchair. And, you know, she just believed when you stop doing what you love, that's when you grow old. And age is just a number, which Ginny clearly showed us all.
SUMMERS: And that is not all the lobster lady will be remembered for.
WALSH: What inspired people was just, you know, not only her optimism but her spirit. Just, you know, it conveyed to people just don't give up. So I think she and her memory and her spirit will live on for quite some time.
SUMMERS: Virginia Oliver's family announced that she died peacefully last week at the age of 105. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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