Montana Family Gives Unique Gift for Woman’s 100th Birthday
A Montana family has given a very special gift to someone in their family, who just recently celebrated her 100th birthday.
Tim, who lives in Missoula, says his aunt turned 100 last week. And he says she's not the only centenarian in her building-- there are two other people who are 102 years old.
Buying a gift for someone who's already celebrated 99 birthdays might be difficult, but Tim and his family came up with a unique idea. They decided they would collect 100 birthday cards for their aunt's 100th birthday.
Where the Cards Came From
Tim says the family worked to collect the cards, but cards also came from his aunt's coworkers. He says she worked for CMR High School in Great Falls, Montana from the 60s to the 80s. With cards from family and friends they were able to achieve their goal of 100 cards for 100 years.
"The cards were all kinds," Tim said. "There was one with paper butterflies on it."
A Real Montana Girl
Tim says his aunt's parents had a homstead in Great Falls and that she was actually the last baby who was born in Fort Shaw, the "former United States military outpost" near Great Falls.
She was one of seven children in her family and all of the siblings lived into their 80s and 90s. When Tim's aunt was in her 80s she took creative writing classes which allowed her to write down the stories of their family.
What's the Secret to Living So Long?
Not only did she and her siblings live long but Tim says his great-grandmother also lived to the age of 100 before she passed away in the 1980s. What's the secret to living so long?
"Very hearty Norweigan stock," Tim says.
If there is a characteristic that Tim's aunt and great-grandmother share, he says that they both were good about accepting change and going with the flow.