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Flossie Page
Hatteberg's People
Reporter: Larry Hatteberg
May 9, 2004--We don’t often get a chance to meet history. But here she is. Flossie Page who next month will celebrate 111 years of life.
“It feels like I’ve lived too long.” |
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As we remember our mothers, we look at Flossie, who is part of three centuries. Born June 12, 1893, Grover Cleveland was president. Abraham Lincoln had only been dead 28 years. But today, this woman endures….
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“So many things have happened.”
She lives in this home in rural Butler County with her granddaughter Becky Humig and her grandchildren. Surrounded by love and young life Flossie is content. Communication isn’t easy but Flossie tells me about her greatest happiness. |
“Probably that my family are all close to me where I can see them and that they are all Christians.”
Until just a few years ago Flossy lived next door in this home where the wind and the swing usually meet. |
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Now with the help of her Daughter in law, Pearl, Flossie lives quietly and she has advise for longevity.
“To take life as it comes and to not worry too much about it.”
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Her life has been blessed and as we look at the old family album.
An album well kept by her husband, Fredrick W. Page…we see a woman the younger generation will never meet. The ageless pictures of youth. All of us have these albums…we look at the faces and wonder at the cruelty of time.
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The life most of us live now isn’t Flossie’s world.
“It’s too fast for me to keep up with.”
In her picture album that was lovingly made by her husband, we see pictures of Flossie in her twenties -- when she worked in Washington at the War Department in 1918.
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Another with a friend on the running board of an old Model “T”.
A picture of her son….in his youth…who did not outlive his mother. |
Then with her husband….a precise and exact man whom she gave her life.
He is gone, she is not. Now she says she feels special simply because of her longevity.
“I guess I do, there aren’t many who live that long so I guess I feel special.”
She adds, don’t be surprised by her long life. |
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“It isn’t any secret. Just live a moral life and do as much good as you can.”
At this age, the future is precarious, but there is little concern.
“There is life beyond this earthly life.”
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Outside her window, a grandchild with all the time in the world. Inside Flossie Page whose youth was yesterday but whose wisdom is for the ages.
In rural Butler County I’m Larry Hatteberg. |
Larry’s Note: Flossie Page has seven grandchildren, 36 great-grandchildren and 15 great-great grandchildren. And one other thing --- she takes no medication of any kind.
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