By Rick Banas of BMA Management, Ltd.
As we sat talking in her apartment at the affordable assisted living community that BMA manages in Flora, Illinois, Bernice Bruner’s comment about her childhood was not what I was expecting.
After all, less than a month before our visit, Bernice celebrated her 101st Birthday at Heritage Woods of Flora. She was born on Oct. 10, 1909.
Life was much different then. In Berlin, Germany, in October 1909, Orville Wright became the first person to fly an airplane to an altitude of 1,000 feet. In Frankfurt, the world’s first passenger airline was founded. William Taft became the last U.S. President to ride in a stagecoach. President Taft and naturalist John Muir, founder of the Sierra Club, rode for 10 hours on a 34 mile trip through Yosemite National Park in California. In October 1909, Taft also became the first U.S. President to visit a foreign country, crossing over to Ciudad Juarez to attend a banquet hosted by Porfirio Diaz, President of Mexico.
Bernice was born in Wayne City, Illinois, and grew up on the family farm five miles north of Wayne City. She was one of 11 children.
“My grandfather and his four sons cleared the land. He gave each boy 80 acres,” she said.
“We didn’t have cars,” she recalled. Travel was by surrey, primarily to shop and to her grandparent’s house. When the whole family went, it was an event.
She met her husband through her sister. He lived in Flora and was working for the B&O Railroad.
She became an avid gardener, which she attributes to her life on the farm. At the age of 99, she was honored with the Flora Garden Clubs “Garden of the Month” Award. She continued working in her garden until she moved into Heritage Woods at the age of 100 because of a broken wrist. She would spend portions of everyday out in the yard until there was frost. She continues to attend Garden Club meetings at Heritage Woods.
As we visited, Bernice showed us a family picture that was taken outside of her grandfather’s house when she was about eight or nine years of age. She has the picture hanging on the wall of her apartment. Bernice is in the front row in the middle.
What I wasn’t expecting were Bernice’s comments about her childhood given her longevity. While she recalled jumping rope and playing hide and seek, she said “my memories of growing up are not very good. I was a sickly child.”
“I caused my parents more trouble than all the rest of the children put together,” Bernice told reporter Alex Haglund for a story on her 101st Birthday celebration that ran in the Advocate Press, the newspaper that serves Flora, Illinois.
All affordable assisted living communities managed by BMA Management, Ltd. are certified and surveyed by the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services. All assisted living communities are licensed and surveyed by the Illinois Department of Public Health.
“BMA Management, Ltd. is the leading provider of assisted living in Illinois
and one of the 20 largest providers of assisted living in the United States.”
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