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| For 100-year-old, time flew by fast |
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| Wednesday, 26 November 2008 | |
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Jennifer Larson Staff Writer How the world has changed over the past century, and for Forest Lake resident Julia Gesena Eding Fellwock, time has flown by fast. Sunday, Nov. 30, marks a milestone for the former practical nurse and homemaker as she celebrates her 100th birthday. On Sunday, over 130 people attended a party in her honor at New Life Church-Lutheran Missouri Synod in Hugo. “She’s resting today,” said Dee Winters, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Rev. Arnold Fellwock. The couple had three children; Curt Fellwock (deceased), Dee, of Lino Lakes, and sister Gerry Fellwock, Temple City, CA. Julia’s family is five generations and includes five grandchildren, seven great-grandchildren and two great-great-grandchildren. With nearly a week until Julia’s birthday, the girls were able to get a first-hand account from their mother about her life that began in Pettis County, MO. Her early life Born on the family farm, she weighed less than 3 pounds. To keep Julia warm, they placed her in a shoe box and laid it on the warm oven door. Her favorite childhood memory is of a horse named Molly, which would take Julia and her sister to and from school in a buggy. One day, Julia says they decided to show Molly their house without a bridle. “We guided her into our large back porch and got her turned and started into the kitchen,” she said. “Our mother got very excited, and told us to get the horse out of the house because the horse would cut up her new linoleum.” After graduating from Smith Cotton High School in Sedalia, the town Scott Joplin was living in when he wrote the popular song “The Entertainer,” she then moved to St. Louis and worked for a family as a practical care nurse where Julia cared for a small child recovering from severe burns. She and Arnold were wed in 1930. In their Model T, they drove to their first mission congregation in Markinch, Saskatchewan. Because of the remote location and period in time, traveling wasn’t as easy as it is today. The Fellwock’s could drive their car in the summer but got around with horse and sleigh during the winter. They lived at locations in Canada, Illinois and Minnesota between their union and Dec. 4, 1963 – the day Arnold passed away from a heart attack. Just four days earlier, he was installed as pastor of his new congregation in Minneapolis. After her husband’s death, Julia returned to Sedalia and worked in a nursing home. She was employed at Bothwell Hospital until her 70th birthday, the mandatory retirement age. Life today To be near her daughter and son-in-law, Julia moved to the John Jergens Estates in Forest Lake in 1991 where she continues to reside. To commemorate the birthday, she received letters of congratulations from Mr. and Mrs. President George W. Bush, Dr. Gerald B. Kieschnick, president of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod; Minnesota Senators Norm Coleman and Amy Klobuchar as well as Rev. Dr. Lane R. Seitz, president of the state’s south district of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod. When asked if it is frightening to have lived a century, her reply was “No, it goes by fast – one month, one year at a time.” Just shy of turning 100, Julia says there are no actions she would change if Fellwock could re-live these years. As for mistakes that people made during this period in time, Julia notes that people don’t take care of their bodies as they should. A firm believer that nothing ever hurt anyone, she credits doing everything in moderation for living this long. Julia intends to spend the rest of her days “as the Lord gives it to me.” One may assume that for a girl who rode to school in a horse and buggy, the automobile could be considered the greatest invention of the 20th Century. However, that is not Julia’s opinion. “The radio,” she explained, “totally changed communication and was a companion in the home.” Coming from the south, Julia never envisioned the day the United States would have an African-American become President. My, how the times have certainly changed. Social Bookmarking ...       |
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