Woman who loved to dance dies at age 107

Sophie Muchow lived at Good Samaritan Home in Winthrop

By FRITZ BUSCH

Journal Staff Writer

WINTHROP -- Faith strong enough to get her through anything was a Winthrop woman's philosophy that helped her reach 107 years of age.

Sophie Muchow died Thursday, Nov. 4, at the Winthrop Good Samaritan Center, where she spent the past 18 years.

Muchow predicted that she would outlive her relatives and friends and she did, according to Lois Majeski, activity volunteer and spiritual care director at the nursing home.

Majeski will speak at Muchow's funeral today at St. John's Lutheran Church in rural Gaylord.

Muchow died without any surviving relatives because she outlived them all.

"She always had a positive attitude," Majeski said about Muchow. "She was always able to lift the spirits of other residents and the staff. She said she had a good life, that the years went by fast and that she couldn't complain."

Muchow kept busy at the nursing home. Her favorites activities included Bible study, church services, music and bingo. She sang "Amazing Grace" and danced to several songs on her 105th birthday.

Muchow experienced the first days of the telephone, automobile, television and other modern conveniences.

Decades ago, she took her first and last airplane ride for free at the Sibley County Fair.

"It was so rough, I thought if I ever get back down again, I'm staying here," Muchow recalled many decades later.

World-record setting aviator Charles Lindbergh landed a plane at the fairgrounds the same day Muchow got her ride.

As a young child, automobiles proved important to her. Motorized transportation dramatically cut the time it took to get to church, allowing her to sleep longer on Sunday morning.

Sophie Zarnott Muchow was born Dec. 29, 1896, on a farm near Winthrop. The oldest of five children, she attended German school. Sophie met her husband George at a dance, which was fitting because of her love for dancing. She and George hosted barn dances, and neighbors traveled from miles around to kick up their heels. She enjoyed dancing to the music Whoopee John Wilfahrt of New Ulm.

The couple bought a resort near Outing in the Brainerd lakes area. Spear fishing became one of her favorite pastimes.

Although the Muchows never had any of their own children, they raised Vincent, a nephew, from age nine after one of Sophie's sisters died.

(Fritz Busch can be reached at fbusch@nujournal.com).