The Art of Survival Monday through Friday for almost 20 years, Irene Pinole has practiced her art at the Short Center South, a nonprofit fine arts program for the disabled. While Irene paints a watercolor, her group home roommate, Terry Gordon comes over to admire her artwork. Statistically speaking, Irene should have been dead by the age of 10. Against the longest of odds for a child with Down syndrome in her era, Irene grew up and grew old. Now she is 76, ranking her among the oldest Down survivors on record.

Anne Chadwick Williams, Sacramento Bee