Lorene Myers of Chanute will celebrate her 103rd birthday on Wednesday and credits her longevity, at least in part, to her approach to life.
She was born Lorene Switzer on the family farm on Jan. 8, 1922, attended Prairie Queen country school, high school and then beauty college in Coffeyville.
She said her childhood in rural Chanute was fun, a theme she followed through the years.
“We kids had fun then,” she said, riding bicycles, raising pets, playing, fishing, swimming and skating.
“They miss so much now,” she said. Families got together more in her younger and adult years for Christmases, Thanksgivings and other holidays. Her parents brought the kids to visit with their extended families. These could include Sunday meals together.
In her earlier years, Lorene worked at Evelyn’s beauty shop on Main Street in Chanute. She married Lawrence “Park” Myers on May 18, 1943, in Lompoc, California, where he was stationed on an Army base. He served during World War II in New Guinea and elsewhere.
Back in Chanute, Park worked at a lumber yard and was a carpenter, she said. They lived east of Chanute and raised eight children, Anthony, James, William, David, Bernadette, Michelle, Theresa and Kathy. Two children died in infancy. She has a number of grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
“That’s a shame not to know how many, but by the time we count them then there’s more,” she said.
Lorene and Park attended St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in Chanute.
She said she and Park tried to create a happy life for their children, the same her parents did for her. They tried to teach their children truth and respect, for their possessions and others’ possessions, especially if they borrowed something. Park died in 1988.
“We had a good time. We had pure, good times, I guess you’d call them,” Lorene said. She said they had good fun, playing ball or croquet.
She said one of her boys wrote a school essay once saying he was glad he was raised in a big family because he thought he learned more.
“And that made me real happy,” she said. Her children have shared their family memories with her over the years.
“They’re little memories. Like my kids sit around and talk and they’ll mention things that I didn’t even know about. To them, it was so important. It was such a small thing. But to them it meant something,” she said.
She said their oldest child is nearly 80 now.
“That doesn’t seem fair,” she said, laughing. “Because they’re almost as old as I am.”
Lorene lives at Guest Homes Estate II (assisted living) in Chanute. She said she lived with a daughter before moving into Guest Homes.
She said each birthday is a blessing, and she’s surprised at how many she’s had so far.
“I never dreamed I would live to be this old,” she said.
She said she couldn’t point to one thing that brought her to today, other than her love of family, food and fun.
“I think there’s something I’m supposed to do, but I don’t know what it is yet.”
She said she enjoyed homecooked meals in her lifetime. Lean times meant you ate what was available, including the bounty of a home garden and what the land provided. She liked her vegetable garden.
“I just like to eat everything. I’m a good eater, I guess,” she said. “Maybe that’s why I’ve lived so long. I have to live to eat.”
She said she still feels like a kid, especially when she encounters others being nice or telling her they love her. She also said she likes “silly things.”
“I still got a kid up here someplace. I hope I keep it.”
