In 2002, Carol Hochberg moved to Sarasota to be near her son and two grandchildren. Today, she lives alone in a three-bedroom house that overlooks a pond just north of University Parkway. Her home is teeming with East Asian art, most of it from Japan, where she lived with her first husband and two children for more than three years. She loves to show off her treasures, which include heirlooms from when her grandmother was a young child, dozens of short stories she has written over the years and photos of her with her twin sister, which were featured in the local newspaper when they were born.

“My mother never threw anything away,” Hochberg says. “And you know, when we were born, nobody knew that she was going to have twins. Everyone was as surprised as she was.”

Hochberg was born in 1933 in Peoria, Illinois, where her sister still lives. “She hasn’t been quite as lucky with her health as I have,” Hochberg says. “But she does still mow her own lawn, even with one lung and on oxygen.”

Hochberg attributes her longevity to genes, attitude and lifestyle choices. “I do two days of yoga and two days of exercise a week,” she says. “I also meet with friends in the neighborhood once a week to chat. Staying active and staying social are very important.” Her daughter-in-law Erin McLeod is the president and chief executive officer of Senior Friendship Centers, and Hochberg says it’s easy to stay active there through exercise classes, writing groups and more.

Hochberg married her second husband, Mo, in her late 60s. They met during a group tour in Hawaii and decided to get married shortly after. He lived to 102 before dying three years ago. Her daughter passed shortly after that.

“My mindset is that you have to make the choice to not be a basket case when bad things happen,” she says. “When we are faced with tragedy, we have to not dwell, because life goes on. It’s not doing you any good and you can go downhill—and fast.”