To Barbara - and the entire forum:

I am posting this reply to the forum (and not just to Barbara) because
of a point she raised in a private response to me, which I thought
should be addressed publically.

First of all - thanks Barbara for your response.

And to the point:

Barbara mentioned that the average life expectancy was 45 years then.
That (or a number close to that) was indeed the average life
expectancy. However, that number is misleading. The reason for this
is that infant mortality is included in the statistic, and that was
very high a hundred years ago. However, if someone made it past the
childhood years and into adulthood, s/he stood an excellent chance
of making it well into the 50's and 60's at least.

There is also an additional actuarial factor - anyone who made it
successfully to 55 (Solomon LESSEL's age in 1930) stood an excellent
chance of living easily another ten years (the 1940 census).
The older you are at a given time - the higher the chances of
reaching an even older age (vs. the general random population).

If we have any MD's, MPH's, or actuarial experts in the forum, I'd
enjoy reading some exact statistics.

Regards,

Meron LAVIE
Oranit, ISRAEL