104 and still going strong

Wednesday, August 7, 2013

At the youthful age of 104, Mary Ellen Liter is doing just fine thank you. She still lives at her Nevada home -- by herself -- and still gets out, maybe just a bit slower and not as often.

Aside from a hearing problem, she said she in pretty good health.

She said she doesn't have a secret to living a long life. "I never thought I would be around this long," she said during a stop at the Daily Mail.

She still fixes her own meals, even though they are pretty simple these days. She'll usually have cereal for breakfast and perhaps a turkey sandwich for lunch. Supper generally is some kind of canned soup. Sometimes friends or her children will bring her a meal or take her out.

Her favorite place to eat is Golden Corral in Joplin. In fact, that's what she wanted for her 104th birthday, July 28. She wanted a family dinner at Golden Corral and her family was more than happy to oblige.

She has two children, Joyce King of Joplin and Wilson Liter of Nevada, three grandchildren, and a number of great- and great-great-grandchildren.

She said she does spend some time away, having just returned to Nevada from a month at her daughter's home in Joplin.

She has seen many changes in the world since 1909. "If I could just remember them, ..." she said, smiling.

She was raised on a farm in the Marvin Chapel area and was handling a horse-drawn plow in the cornfield by the time she was 8 years old.

"I was using a two-shovel plow with four horses," she recalled.

Life was pretty simple, she noted. They were early risers. She and her siblings worked in the field -- she plowed the corn -- then they had breakfast, did the dishes, made their beds and did a variety of other chores before walking two miles to the one-room school house near Marvin's Chapel Methodist Church.

When she married her late husband, William Henry "Bill" Liter, they lived on a farm east of Milo. He had taken over the responsibility of farming the family's land when his father died when Bill was 13.

During the fall of 1929, they went to Kansas City, where Bill worked at National Bellas Hess and Mary Ellen at the Jones store on 12th Street.

In March 1930, the couple went to work at the Nevada State Hospital.

"We lived in a one-room apartment over the bakery."

In 1937, an employees' dormitory was constructed on the grounds.

"We had first choice of a room since we had been there the longest." The one room had twin beds. They ate in the cafeteria.

"Our laundry was free and the rooms were cleaned by the patients," she said.

"Our first jobs were in the receiving hall. Bill had the men's side and I had the women's side. I enjoyed playing the piano. So on Saturdays we would practice singing for our Sunday church service.

"For eight years, Bill and I worked together on Ward 19, which had 80 patients, all men."

During the day, the men worked on the hospital grounds at various jobs of the farming operation and in the industrial departments.

"On ward 19, we worked 12-hour shifts, from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., with half a day off a week, and one day off a month for vacation time. We were paid $35 a month when we started in 1930 and finally Bill got up to $40 a month."

The family moved to Detroit, Mich., in the fall of 1941, where Bill worked in a tool and die shop. They lived close to her sister's family. The couple's two children were both born there.

In August 1945, they moved back to Nevada and again went to work at the Nevada State Hospital.

"Bill milked cows and I worked on a ward. Bill had two days off a week."

In 1950, Bill started a barber supply business, which became a full-time occupation.

"So both of us quit work at the hospital."

Mary Ellen also worked at the ASCS office, where she stayed for about 10 years.

While she held several jobs over the years outside the home, she also stayed busy with what would become one of her passions -- the Nevada Griffons.

Her son Wilson was "part of the Griffons" and she helped with fundraisers. She said she loves cheering on her favorite team.

"She makes the best cakes," her friend Peggy Pile said.

Her specialty was peach ice cream and Mary Ellen made a lot of it for Griffons players over the years. She said she doesn't get to go to ballgames much anymore, but she was a regular fixture for many years.

At the age of 88, Bill died July 23, 1995.

Despite that loss and her age, she has continued to do as much as she was able to over the years.

"I feel very fortunate," she said. "I have a lot of good friends taking care of me."

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