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111 candles to blow out |
| Channels » Home » News » 111 candles to blow out |
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April 15, 2004 |
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This article by Byron Rohrig was reprinted with permission from the April 15, 2004, edition of the Evansville (Ind.) Courier and Press.
(PETERSBURG, Ind.) -- She's the best quilter of five residents who are piecing together a baby quilt which, though not quite finished, was displayed Wednesday at a rare event. There were pictures, tons of cards and flowers galore, too, for the 111th birthday party of Minnie Armstrong Kearby, who still reads the newspaper every day and says her favorite food is probably cake.
She and a crowd of 75 that included 8th District Rep. John Hostettler, Petersburg Mayor Jon Craig and former Mayor Randy Harris had plenty of cake to sample. Kearby, decked out in a sharp lavender outfit with a big corsage, greeted scores of well-wishers from her wheelchair at Petersburg Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center. Musicians Tony Rothrock on mandolin and Dillard Russ on guitar treated Kearby to a rendition of "Red Wing," written when she was 14.
Minnie Armstrong Kearby is a native of Ireland, Ind., in Dubois County, born in 1893. For a full year Kearby has been a supercentenarian, the term for people 110 years old and above.
Ramona Trinidad Iglesias-Jordan of Puerto Rico was, as of late March, the oldest person alive, according to a gerontology Web site. She is 114.
Kearby is Indiana's oldest resident, the 12th oldest person living in the United States, and the 32nd oldest person in the world. Had her husband, Edgar, lived, the couple would be celebrating their 89th wedding anniversary this year. They married in 1915 after, as she had insisted, Edgar bought a house. Their only son, Harley, would be 90 now. Kearby outlived him, too. His widow, Virginia Kearby, 80, who joined the guest of honor at a table reserved for family, said her mother-in-law has lived a long, good life because she "always took care of herself and always ate well."
Kelly Donar, the nursing home activities director who lauded Kearby's quilting skills displayed in three-hour weekly sessions, said she loves Kearby's humor, too. An incident shortly after Donar joined the staff six months ago showed Kearby wasn't above a joke at Donar's expense.
Donar, a Knox County, Ind., native, stopped to visit with Kearby one day, attempting to learn as much personal information as she could. When Donar asked her where she was from, Kearby said, "Ireland." Donar asked Kearby about "how she got here," interested in her immigration experiences, and asked her what other things she liked best about Ireland.
"The Chicken Place," Kearby answered, naming a restaurant that easily is the Dubois County town's best-known fixture.
Kearby's daughter-in-law said she thought the supercentenarian's longevity also was partly attributable to the fact that "she always ate a lot of chicken." Fixed how? "Fried. Always fried," Virginia Kearby said.
In fact, after the public get-together Wednesday afternoon, Minnie Kearby retired to a conference room with family for a meal catered by --you guessed it -- The Chicken Place.
There were speeches, too, at the big party. "What a miracle. We're glad you're with us," Hostettler told Kearby, adding her achievement in length of days was "the result of good, clean living and God's love." Hostettler added that he hoped to be back for her 112th.
Mayor Craig presented Kearby with a proclamation that made Wednesday "Minnie Kearby Day." He gave her a large, homemade birthday card whose 113 signees donated an arrangement of 111 carnations. Indiana Gov. Joe Kernan sent a message proclaiming Kearby a Sagamore of the Wabash, while messages of congratulations came from Kernan's presumed Republican opponent, Mitch Daniels, and Indiana United Methodist Bishop Woodie White. The state's Methodist newspaper counted Kearby as the denomination's oldest member.
Kearby, who farmed with her husband, lived on her own until she was almost 105. One of her physicians once attributed her longevity chiefly to genetics. Kearby's mother and an uncle both lived to be 100.
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