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A century, plus four, of memories
By Steve Moyer
Nevada Daily Mail
At age 104, Irene Welch doesn't hear too well and her answers might raise more questions than they answer if she doesn't hear the questioner correctly. but she still has plenty of wit and an impish grin. Sitting in her room at Christian Health Care, Welch was entertaining two friends, George and Shirley Yarn.
"The reason she's lived so long is that she eats Sugar Coco Roos and puts a ton of sugar on them," Shirley said.
"She's sugar cured," George added with a smile.
Shirley added that Welch has always done as much as she could, even today.
"She's as independent as a hog on ice," she said.
Welch looked up and her impishness came out. "These are supposed to be my friends," she said.
Seriously, Welch credits her longevity to her faith. She and her mother converted to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints when she was a child, and she attends church every Sunday.
"I always attended church every Sunday, and I still do," Welch said.
Good genes help, too. One of her grandparents lived to be 104 and her parents lived into their nineties.
Welch does more than attend church every Sunday. There's another thing she does on a weekly basis -- she gets her hair done.
When she turned 100 friends and family celebrated with her and she even got a visit from then mayor, Richard Meyers. Meyers stopped by to give a bemused Welch a certificate from the city.
"I've lived all this time and I've never seen a city officer," said Welch.
Meyers congratulated Welch and said the city was happy to help her celebrate.
Welch took time at her 100th birthday celebration to give some advice to young people and her impish personality came out at the end. "There's more I could tell you, but I won't," Welch said at the end.
Welch was born at home, as were 95 percent of all people born in the U.S. at the time. When she was born, Teddy Roosevelt was president, there were 45 states in the Union, the Wright brothers were still a year away from their historic flight and the tallest structure in the world was the Eiffel Tower.
Welch, who had two brothers and two sisters, was born in Aubrey, Kan., Sept. 26, 1902 but it doesn't seem to have made much of an impression on her.
"I don't remember Aubrey. We moved to Ochlitree when I was just a baby and lived there until I was 9," Welch said. "I've never been back to Aubrey."
Baseball was one of her early passions, and she was very good at it -- better than the boys she grew up with.
"I was good. I was fast. When teams were chosen, a friend and I were always picked first because we were better than the boys," Welch said.
During 1918 and 1919, a flu epidemic swept the country with many dying from the disease and Welch and her family didn't escape it. Welch caught the flu but survived. She was luckier than a brother-in-law, who didn't survive -- he died in her home.
Welch moved to the Kansas City area and lived there for many years. "We moved to Graystone Heights just across the river from Kansas City, Kan.
She worked in a millinery shop for $3 a week before going to work in a print shop, Southwest News Co., for more money. During that time, it was her job to help lay out the printing and even took a hand in operating the press.
"It was a big New York firm that had an office in Kansas City," Welch said. "I did a little of everything, I started as a file clerk but then I got to set type, proofreading -- I did nearly everything."
While working in the print shop she met her future husband, Leonard Welch.
"I married Leonard on VE Day, May 8, 1945," she said.
Welch and her husband moved to a farm near Rockville, Mo., that hadn't been farmed in quite some time. "It was a lot of work. We picked pecans from the trees in addition to regular farm chores. We milked 30 cows by hand. It was hard work and finally I couldn't handle it any more and we got milking machines," Welch said.
There is one thing she never learned to do -- drive a car.
"She learned to drive a tractor on the farm but she never learned to drive a car," Shirley said.
Welch's wit came through when she talked about the food her family ate back then.
"We ate very nutritious food. We couldn't afford any other kind," she quipped.