Centenarians muse about longevity

By FRITZ BUSCH

Journal Staff Writer

BROWN COUNTY -- Three centenarians -- Meta Lawrence, 104, of St. John Home, Springfield; 108-year-old Elsie Palmer, and 100-year-old Dora Turbes, both of Divine Providence Community Home, Sleepy Eye -- know about life past the century mark.

Not worrying and staying busy is why Meta Lawrence said she still feels good and has a good appetite at age 104.

"I've had things happen to me that could have made me worry a lot," Lawrence said. "I got over things and forgot about them."

Lawrence stays alert doing a daily crossword puzzle and reading the newspaper from front to back. She still makes her own bed.

She celebrated her 104th birthday Jan. 13.

Some elderly people insist drinking a teaspoon on vinegar each night cleans their digestive system and promotes health, but Lawrence has another remedy -- she drinks 7-Up each night.

Hard work on the farm also had something to do with her longevity. She grew up on the family farm 3 miles northwest of Springfield.

She worked in the psychopathic department at the St. Peter State Hospital before becoming a nurse in 1920.

"Working in St. Peter was quite an experience, something I'll never forget," Lawrence said.

Her worked as a nurse in North Dakota, Denver, and Springfield for many years.

She married Springfield farmer Milton Lawrence in her 40s. They lived on the family farm near Clements, much to her delight.

"I loved being around animals helping with farm work," Lawrence said. "I remember when I used to help Milton to husk corn with horses before there was modern machinery. One of his horses didn't like me. It tried to bite me whenever I was near it."

Apples are her favorite food. Her father, Ed Krueger, had a large orchard 3 miles northwest of Springfield.

Lawrence hopes the Minnesota Twins don't leave the state. She often watches them on television or listens to them on the radio.

"I don't know why they want to get rid of the Twins? Money, money, money, I guess," Lawrence said.

Elsie (Biebl) Palmer celebrated her 108th birthday Jan. 27. She never smoked or drank.

Growing up on a farm in West Newton Township in a family of 13 children, she remembered riding a horse and buggy to church in St. George. It was a long walk to the country school, but it was regular fare for her and her brothers and sisters.

Palmer attributed her long life to farm work and other types of self sufficiency. She got hand-me-down clothing or sewed her own clothes.

The family farm house had no running water or electricity when she was a child. Farm cattle got water thanks to a windmill.

"When you live on a farm, you work on a farm," Palmer said. "I ate lots of fresh vegetables too. The Good Lord gave to me and I took it and made good use of it."

Dora (Reinhart) Turbes was born and raised on a farm near Courtland. She attended the District 28 Country School.

Turbes worked as a cook for 40 years at the Purity White Castle restaurant behind what is now Skillings Technology in downtown New Ulm.

"I worked pretty darn hard. Yeah. You ain't a kiddin'," Turbes said. "I remember Polka Days on the street. I went through lots of those. Most of the time, I was so busy cooking, I didn't do what most kids did during Polka Days."

Turbes enjoyed doing craftwork including beads she calls chimes. She sold much of her crafts and donated the money to Catholic Missions.