'Silver Belles and Beau'
Excelsior Place 90-year-olds reminisce about nearly a century of life experiences
BAXTER - They all grew up in the Roaring '20s.
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It was a time of flappers and gangsters. It was a time when women were guaranteed the right to vote. The era followed the end of World War I and led up to the stock market crash of 1929.
Florella Workman, a member of the 90s club at Excelsior Place in Baxter, recently talked about how she had to carry coal into the house for a fire when she was young as resident Clarice Hager listened. Brainerd Dispatch/Steve Kohls
Excelsior Place, an assisted living facility in Baxter, celebrates the lives of its 90-year-old residents with a club, "Silver Belles and Beau," formed in January.
Loree Besser, Excelsior director of resident services, said staff decided to start a 90s club after reviewing its population count and realizing that 36 percent of their residents are age 90 or older.
"We have 18 members in our club and the oldest in the group is 96," said Besser. "This is so cool. I've been in assisted living facilities for 18 years and we're starting to see a higher population of this generation. People are living longer these days. "
The 90s club at Excelsior Place in Baxter include Caroline Johnson (front left), Carol Walters, Lyla Erickson, Eunice Longanecker, Deloris Holman; Bud Willis (back left), Nuna Kjera, Virginia Luikart, Alice Schulke, Jeanne Erickson, Clarice Hager, Florella Workman, Bea Buckley and Kay Gakin. The 90s club members not pictured are Verna Krall, Fran Holden, Elsa Wiltsey and Dorothy Moller. Brainerd Dispatch/Steve Kohls
Besser said the group meets twice a month and once the weather warms up the club may venture out on field trips. Club members have a list of topics they plan to discuss, including their high school dances; blue laws, which restricted shopping on Sundays; gas rationing; price comparisons over the decades on items; games their generation used to play; family reunions; reflections of mischievous things; browsing family photographs and sharing; and they may start a choir.
At the group's February meeting facilitated by Julie Mapson, Excelsior community life director, the club discussed chores they used to have when they were growing up.
"We have 18 members in our club and the oldest in the group is 96. This is so cool. I've been in assisted living facilities for 18 years and we're starting to see a higher population of this generation. People are living longer these days. "
Loree Besser, Excelsior Place director of resident services
Virginia Luikart, 91, said she had to get breakfast ready, go out and care for the chickens, do household chores and then plan for dinner.
Jeanne Erickson, a member of the 90s club at Excelsior Place in Baxter, recently listened as other club members talked about the chores they had as children. The 90s club consists of residents in their 90s. Brainerd Dispatch/Steve Kohls
"Us kids had to do all the household work because my mother was outside a lot," said Luikart. "We had about 99 ducks."
Luikart said she didn't get along with her older sister "because I worked faster than her."
Bud Willis, 92, the only man in the club, said he used to be paid 10 cents a scuttle, or bucket, of coal. Willis said he used to build fires in three different churches and that kept him busy. He said he earned $1.75 a month for his work.
Virginia Luikart, a member of the 90s club at Excelsior Place in Baxter, talked to club members at a February meeting about taking care of ducks and geese when she was a child. Brainerd Dispatch/Steve Kohls
Willis said he worked at Standard Lumber, which was on Laurel Street for 38 years.
"I moved to Brainerd on Dec. 3, 1941," said Willis. "I moved here because my wife decided."
Nuna Kjera said, "I remember helping my mother in the garden. I also helped my brother pick potatoes and he kicked me in the mouth and I lost my tooth. He didn't mean to do it."
Clarice Hager said she remembers working on the farm in the hot sun, while watching Gustavus Adolphus College students sun tan near her.
"They should have helped me," said Hager. "I was the oldest of six and I had to be a boy."
Several other residents in the '90s club grew up on a farm and talked about how they had to milk cows, bale hay and do other farm chores.
As Caroline Johnson put it, "We really worked."
Mapson said the residents in the '90s club enjoy spending time together talking. Mapson said they share their stories and they can relate to each other well.
Lyla Erickson, 96, said it is nice for the group to get together.
Jeanne Erickson, 93, and Kjera, 92, said it's fun to get together with the group. Erickson said she is the only resident in the bunch from North Dakota. Kjera said she is excited to share things about her life, including the time in her life when she was living in Alaska.
JENNIFER STOCKINGER may be reached at jennifer.stockinger@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5851.