Sean C. Morgan
Olive Wentworth celebrated her 100th birthday Saturday afternoon with friends and five generations of family.
Wentworth had one son, Don Jewett. Now she has 17 great great grandchildren and one on the way.
Noting that Noah had three sons, “I can see how the earth was populated after the flood,” Wentworth said. Her son had one son and two daughters.
Wentworth moved to Sweet Home August 1994 from Granite Falls, Wash.
She was born on Jan. 3, 1903 in Red Lodge, Mont., a coal-mining town. She moved for a short time to Canada with her family (her father was then to Snohomish, Wash., where she attended school.
When she was 14, she went to work in a boarding house while employees were striking for an eight-hour day. She worked on and off at boarding houses.
Working during one strike, “they called me a scab,” Wentworth said. She had no idea what that meant.
April 6, 1917, she recalls standing at the schoolyard when the United States declared war and entered World War I.
When school was out, she went to work for man who made candy, then again at a boarding house, where she made $1 per day with room and board.
She was married the first time at the age of 15 in Everett, Wash.
“I became a Christian when I was about 40 years old, 41,” Wentworth said. “I changed my lifestyle a lot. I became a vegetarian finally. Have been for over 50 years. I think that has a lot to do with it because your arteries get clogged up. If you’re careful about what you eat, you can live a long time.”
In her lifetime, she’s seen many changes. Among the most significant are social changes.
“I was telling someone yesterday,” Wentworth said. “The kids, they don’t know how to play even. We never had any problem playing. We could come up with all kinds of things to do.”
Now, with the garbage on Internet and TV, kids see all of the wrong things, Wentworth said, and “the crime situation is terrible … kids out shooting kids, just for fun.”
Other changes, Wentworth said, she didn’t have a refrigerator until her son was 16 years old. She remembers using a box outside of the house. A wet burlap sack dripped on it to keep it cool.
“We put milk and stuff into it and hoped it didn’t spoil,” Wentworth said. She also recalls washing laundry by hand and drying it in a wringer.
“We used to make our own cottage cheese,” Wentworth said. The cottage cheese sold in stores, “you can’t hardly stand it.”
Of all her memories, the most important are of her “third marriage when I became a Christian,” Wentworth said. “We just lived different. Seeing people change their lives, that’s the best part – just to know Jesus loves us. Don’t forget that.”
Wentworth’s advice after 100 years is to “give your heart to Jesus. I think Jesus is toing to come soon.”
Granddaughters Janette Jewett, Leola Jewett and Dena Wixson organized Wentworth’s birthday party.