A trio of Kansas sisters are celebrating all reaching the impressive age of 100.
Youngest sister Frances Kompus turned 100 on Nov. 11 just a week after the eldest sister Julia Kopriva turned 104 on Nov. 5 and months after middle sister Lucy Pochop turned 102 on June 11.
The sisters, who all live near each other, recall a simpler life growing up on a farm in the small town of Beardsley, Kansas.
“I just remember how we used to walk to school,” middle sister Lucy Pochop said. “It was about a mile and three-quarters. It was a long walk.”
They are all grandmothers and widows; Lucy and Julia still live independently in apartments next to each other while Frances is just a few blocks away.
The sisters have lived through the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl when they recall harder times.
“It was dark sometimes. The teachers would call the parents, and, you know, to come and get us from school. Then, we had old homes, and at the bottom, my mother would always put wet towels so the dirt wouldn’t be so bad to come in,” Julia said.
“The younger generation don’t believe what we went through. We work today, but we worked harder those days.”
The sisters recall their father, who lived to be 98 years old, running a farm without modern tractors and how they’d have to deliver gasoline in 5-gallon buckets to him in the field. Then on their journey home they’d stop at the creek and catch frogs.
The sisters remembered how different life was back then without the internet and the modern luxuries we enjoy today.
“We have got refrigerators and deep freezers. We didn’t have that those days,” Lucy said.
The sisters credit their family and faith for their long lives as well as the good food they have enjoyed throughout.
“We always had homemade bread, just plain potatoes, and gravy and meat. With those cookstoves, that was hard to bake. The temperature was hard to keep. Even if it didn’t come out good, we still ate it,” laughed Julia.
“I am thankful for us girls being together all the time, my parents and my faith,” she added.
The sisters said if they had any advice to the younger generation it would be to be put your faith first, be thankful for your family and “walk a lot.”
I think it takes this hardworking generation to remind us to appreciate the simple things in life.
I’m thankful these sisters have each other to enjoy the golden age of their lives.
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