We all know that person who is not OK with getting older.

Maybe they shun birthday parties. Maybe they shave a few years off their real age when they meet somebody new. Maybe they have a mini mental breakdown or mid-life (or wherever they are in life) crisis. Maybe they brood morosely on their inevitable mortality.

While I’m not busting out the Botox or wrinkle cream just yet, ask me in five years how I feel about entering the next decade of my life and it may be a different story.

Nevertheless, in our youth-obsessed world, there are still many people who set good examples of aging with grace — whether that grace is emotional, physical, intellectual, or ideally, some combination thereof.

Take Alfie Date, the oldest living Australian.

The 109-year-old contributes to his community via penguin conservation programs in his homeland.

Specifically, he knits sweaters for the flightless birds.

Date, who been a knitter for over seven decades, lives at a nursing home in New South Wales. One day, he was minding his own business when he was approached by two nurses who relayed to him they’d heard the Phillip Island Penguin Foundation’s call for penguin sweaters for its Knits for Nature program.

They believed Date was the man who could answer that call, and it appears they were correct. Date set to work.

The call for sweaters came in 2013, and these days, the charity’s website says they’re not looking for any new additions to the sea birds’ wardrobes.

As it turns out, penguin sweaters are not just fashionable. They’re functional, because they’re used in saving members of the little penguin species in Australia and New Zealand from oil spills.

These “jumpers,” as our Down Under friends would have them, are placed on penguins who have oil on their feathers while they wait for a bath from volunteers.

This prevents them from trying to clean themselves and ingesting the toxic substance. Just a dime-sized amount of oil is enough to kill one of these foot-high, two-pound little penguins.

On to another inspiring centenarian’s story: in 2011, India-born British citizen Fauja Singh completed the full Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon at age 100.

His run clocked over eight hours, which not only surpassed his goal of completing the gruelling 42.2-kilometre course in nine hours, but fulfilled one of his long life’s lifelong goals.

He is believed to be the oldest full marathon runner but isn’t in the Guinness Book of World Records because he doesn’t have a birth certificate to prove his age — just a passport with his birth date on it and a letter form Queen Elizabeth congratulating him on reaching 100.

That was his eighth full marathon since he picked up competitive running at the remarkable age of 89 as a way to combat depression in dealing with his wife and son’s deaths.

His nicknames include the Sikh Superman, Running Baba and Turbaned Tornado, the last of which is also the title of his biography.

In February of 2013, Singh announced his retirement from competitive running but stated he would still run for a hobby and for his health.

There are inspiring super-seniors everywhere. Perhaps more of us can learn to handle aging with grace from the stories of these special centenarians and other uplifting seniors in our lives.