Born in 1895, Audrey Stubbart (in 1995!) warmly recounts, in the U.S. News & World Report article you can read by clicking here, the love of her parents and three siblings; encounters with Sioux Indians on the plains of Nebraska not long after the historic Battle of Wounded Knee; her marriage at age 15 to John Stubbart, who, in her own words, "was the handsomest fellow I'd ever seen"; her early life on the rugged Wyoming prairie; her devotion to her religious beliefs--she still teaches Sunday School; her disdain for the ageism that encourages "building houses to store our old folks"; and her current (40-hour per week!!) job as columnist and proofreader for The Examiner in Independence, MO. (Photo © 1995 Kevin Horan)

It is no small wonder that this hardy, pleasant person ended up living in Independence, Missouri. For she is the exemplar of the independent person we all want to be to the end. And since Missouri is the "Show Me" state, Audrey Stubbart is showing us that being 100 doesn't matter as much as mattering--still doing, performing, enjoying, sharing, contributing. I know that you share our hope that Audrey will still be writing for us as we enter the next century, the 3rd one for her!