The Big Sandy Mountaineer -

Two Big Sandy residents celebrated their 98th birthday recently. They both still live in their homes. Glen Cook and his wife Anita have moved to town to make life a little easier. Ruth Merrill still lives on the land she was born on and lived her entire life. I just wanted to visit with them both for a couple of minutes, especially after I compiled a list of what happened in their lifetime: World War II, Women had just gained the right to vote, the dropping of the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, The Nazi Holocaust, the Passage of the 1944 Civil rights Act, Landing a man on the moon, the assassination of President Kennedy, The Spirit of St Louis, Prohibition, The great depression, The New deal. The Empire State Building was built, the Dust Bowl, Jackie Robinson, and Women working in factories. Their 98 years saw Pearl Harbor, VE Day, Vietnam War, the Vietnam War, Civil Rights, LA Riots, the First Super Bowl, the First man in Space, Aids, Crack Cocaine, Three Mile Island, the Oklahoma Bombing, Columbine, the Iraq War, and 9/11.

When I asked Glen the secret to life, he said, "It has to be no smoking, no drinking. And when I was in the Army, I had a thyroid problem and was anemic too, so they put me on vitamins, and I've taken them every day since."

He talked about dying and hopes he dies in his sleep, but there isn't anything more he wants to see or do. They love watching TV videos about other places. I've been to the other side of the world, but I've traveled more by watching those videos. I'm happy." Of course, he is from Nebraska, so he follows everything that is happening in Nebraska.

Anita recommended a book, The Choice by Edith Eva Eger, which states that we have a choice in how we approach our day. "It helps cheer a person up," Glen added, adding that his Christian experience changed his life. You feel like everything will work out okay."

Glen used to love to paint. He doesn't paint anymore, but he showed me some paintings he still had hanging on the wall. Glen drives to church, but he doesn't drive anywhere else. He struggles to hear, but he still has his smile. He says, "It's hard to grow old."

,When I shared with Ruth some of the things on the list above she said, "It doesn't seem possible; I couldn't be as old as I am. Because you don't feel 98." Ruth still plants a few flowers in two flower beds, a patio area, and pots. We talked about her love for growing things from her mother, who most likely got her love of gardens from her father. She remembers living with her grandfather Weller over by the springs. Her Grandfather Weller started the fair in town before it moved to Fort Benton.

Ruth Merrill

She later moved into her other grandparents' home, the Rutledges, just across the road from where she lives now. She didn't like that, she didn't want to move.

The most we visited about was going to the rural schools. Walking the distance and, at one time, getting a pony that didn't like two people on his back and wouldn't go till she hit his rear end with a stick.

"Les (her older brother, who is also still with us) had a bicycle that he won at a contest at the big store, and I rode it to school at Hopp."

Ruth loved to sew. She doesn't sew that much now, but she said her mother must have taught her to sew because she remembers the beautiful clothes her mother made her.

She remembers the smell of the upholstery of the family Buick. There was something it was made of that made her sick to her stomach every time.