Old? Not by the Way They Count

On her wedding day, just before dinner, Gertrude Mokotoff sat in a chair and hiked up her dress just above her knee to reveal a white and pink garter. “Very nice,” said Alvin Mann, the man Ms. Mokotoff had exchanged vows with a few hours earlier.

Sometimes you just can’t wait to start your life with the person you are in love with. When you are a nonagenarian couple, there may be an added sense of urgency. A passion for someone or something is essential for an active and fulfilling life.

Ms. Mokotoff, 99, and Mr. Mann, 94, were married on August 5 at City Hall in Middletown, New York, by Mayor Joseph DeStefano. “Their enthusiasm is contagious and their certainty of a destiny together is inspiring,” he told The Times.

Guests ranged in age from Ms. Mokotoff’s 7-month- old great-grandson, Jack Handman, to the bride herself — but nobody was keeping track.

“Age doesn’t mean a damn thing to me or to Gert,” Mr. Mann told The Times. “We don’t see it as a barrier. We still do what we want to do in life.”

They are not alone in thinking so. Ben Barenholtz, 82, just directed his first dramatic film. “People started bugging me about retirement, which pissed me off,” he told The Times.

After a lifetime in the film industry as a producer, distributor and exhibitor ( he helped kick-start the careers of David Lynch, the Coen brothers and John Sayles), Mr. Barenholtz conceived “Alina” as an old-fashioned movie, with no superheroes or special effects.

The film follows a wide- eyed Russian woman, played by Darya Ekamasova, who arrives in Manhattan searching for her father. With no publicist or distributor, “Alina,” which Mr. Barenholtz paid for out of his own pocket, remains a movie without a home and has only been screened once.

Still, Mr. Barenholtz is not afraid of failure. “You’re human, you’re not going to be right all the time, but if you lose your passion, then what are you?” he said.

Gerry Lambert, a 73-year- old lifeguard, has certainly not lost his. “Once you develop a waterman’s lifestyle, you keep coming back,” he told The Times. He has been working on Tobay Beach, New York, since the 1950s.

“I keep coming back because of my love for surfing and the beach,” he said, “and the great memories of my early start down here.”

Over the years, Mr. Lambert’s right knee has been replaced with a titanium one. He has had prostate cancer, which is in remission. But he plans on lifeguarding until he fails the pool test.

Daniela Barnea of California, who is 73, typically swims for up to an hour and a half, seven days a week. “You need to trust yourself, trust the hopes and not the fears, and keep going around the obstacles,” she told The Times.

For older athletes, sports are a way to exert control over their bodies. Exercise is a reminder of one’s potential.

“The track represents freedom to me,” Donald Cheek, another Californian, told The Times. He is an international gold medal Masters sprinter, at age 87. “It is a very clear measurement of what I am. It tells me I have guts, character, that I have what it takes.”

Ms. Barnea shares the sentiment. “People usually don’t want to tell their age, but not me,” she said. “I can’t wait to tell them I am moving up to my next age group for competing. I can break new records when I’m the youngest one in the race.”