Centenarian learns to take life's ups and downs

By GUY PRIEL

Journal Staff Writer

BERNADOTTE -- Thanksgiving was more than a day for giving thanks for one former Winthrop resident, who celebrated her 100th birthday on Nov. 23 at Bernadotte Lutheran Church.

Christine Lager, who until Monday lived in her own home, is the oldest resident of Sibley County. Although she walks with a cane and wears a hearing aid in each ear, she still has a twinkle in her eye. Her favorite hobbies are reading, playing bridge, and politics.

Born when William McKinley was president, Lager outlived all three of her younger siblings, experienced the Great Depression, two World Wars, and the inauguration of 17 presidents.

Television, radios, rural electricity, walking in space, and computers weren't even imagined when she was a child. She has survived hip surgery and a heart attack.

"It is interesting waiting to see who our next president will be," she said. "I am watching the stuff in Florida closely. I voted this year. Politics are interesting to me."

With her faithful companion, her dog Thor, by her side, she is moving to the Lafayette Good Samaritan Assisted Living Center after spending a week with her friends Carol and Duane Anderson of Bernadotte.

Born Grace Augusta Christine Wedin on Nov. 23, 1900, in Hector, she started calling herself Marian as a child, because she hated her given name. The other two names came from her grandmothers.

Her grandparents on her father's side immigrated to Hector from Sweden. Her mother's family immigrated from Germany and moved to New Ulm.

"Living a whole century seems like a long time to me," she said. "But I have had a full life, and it has been wonderful. I hope to make use of whatever time I have left and be satisfied."

While growing up, the house was always filled with stray cats and dogs that she took in, sometimes driving her mother crazy. She admits that her mother put up with a lot.

"I had a wonderful home life while growing up, though," she said. "My father owned a dry goods store and I helped out there sometimes."

After graduating from high school she attended training in Mankato to become a teacher. Her first job was teaching first and second grade in Petersburg, a small town near Estherville, Iowa.

"There were 49 students in my class," Lager said. "There was a home there where all the teachers lived. The superintendent, his wife, and one teacher lived downstairs. The rest of us lived upstairs."

The teachers cooked their own breakfast and ate lunch with the students. At supper time, they all walked to a nearby farm to eat. There were also pigs on the school yard, which sometimes got out of the pen, she said.

"It was very distracting, because the teachers would have to chase the pigs and get them back in the pen," she said.

After two years in Petersburg she took a job in Winthrop teaching first grade.

While teaching in Winthrop, she usually ate supper at the Princess Cafe, which was owned by Chester Lager. The two were married in 1926, and she went to work at the restaurant.

"In those days, when a teacher got married, she could no longer teach, so I changed careers," she said. "Running the restaurant was not an easy thing to do, but we had a good staff."

One day, while working at the restaurant, she met Rolf Hovde, a doctor in Winthrop. He sent her to Mankato for training as a medical assistant. She worked with him for 25 years until he died. She then started working for John Bengtson, a dentist who had offices in Winthrop and Fairfax.

Although their only son died a few days after birth, the Lagers took in two foster children. One was their cousin, Bobby Winkleman, and the other was a girl who lived with them for two years.

"I have always been busy and involved," she said. "I am a member of the Bernadotte Church and have always been active there. I always do things willingly and will take the future as it comes. It's time to take things easy, I guess."

At 100, Lager is philosophical about her longevity.

"I've had some good years and have learned to take the ups and downs," she said. "I have weathered them pretty good. You tolerate different things as you get older. It's all about making up your mind and doing what you want in life."