Roseville senior living community honors 10 residents reaching 100 and beyond
At EagleCrest senior living in Roseville, Minnesota, birthdays are common. Monday's celebration, however, was anything but.
The campus gathered to honor 10 residents who are 100 years old or older, including three people who are 105. Staff and families filled a common room with cards, cake and cameras as the community turned a quiet January day into a rare event.
"Today we have the honor of celebrating 10 amazing individuals, each of which have lived 100 years or more," said campus administrator Susie Fisher. "One of them is celebrating their 105th birthday today, which is so fun to be a part of."
The centenarians include:
- Denise Copeland, 101
- Ruth Rudolph, 102
- Lucile Fredericksen, 102
- Helen Grafstrom, 105
- Arviene Paulu, 105
- June Foote, 100
- John "Jack" Hougen, 101
- Richard Woodcock, 102
- Sophie Anderson, 105
Resident Rosie Paulson, 99, turns 100 on Feb. 5 and is poised to join what staff call the 100 club.
Fisher said the number of residents living past 100 felt unusual enough that staff wanted to pause and recognize it.
"Seeing how many we had over 100 years old seemed significant, and we really wanted to shine some light on that," she said. "Have a happy story for once, with all that going crazy in our world."
For some residents, reaching that milestone still feels surreal.
"Well, I don't know. It's kind of scary," said Rudolph, a 102-year-old resident. "You just never know from one day to the next what to expect.
Rudolph said her daily goal is simple.
"Well, just hoping I can get up in the morning and have breakfast and have a normal day. But one never knows," she said.
Asked about the secret to a long life, Rudolph did not hesitate.
"Well, I try to keep active. Try to eat right. Have a glass of wine now and then. No smoking," she said, adding that Zinfandel is her favorite.
Down the hall, Helen Grafstrom, a 105-year-old resident, celebrated her birthday surrounded by cards and great-grandchildren.
"I'm 105 today," Helen Grafstrom said, laughing that she did not realize the party would land exactly on her birthday. "I guess I was just lucky."
Longevity, she admitted, comes with a cost.
"It isn't so everybody thinks it's so great to live so long, but you lose all your friends," Helen Grafstrom said. "I had four sisters and two brothers. They're all gone. And I lost my best friend just before COVID. She didn't die from COVID, but she was a year younger than me. We had a lot of good times together ... It is lonely, very lonely at times."
Helen Grafstrom said some of her best memories have come late in life, including traveling with a close friend and watching her great-granddaughters grow up and learn piano.
For families, the gathering offered something many never expected: the chance for children to grow up knowing a great-grandparent.
"It was really exciting for me," said Grafstrom's grandson, Charles Grafstrom.
Charles Grafstrom remembers weekends at his grandparents' home in Columbia Heights, Minnesota, where his grandfather cooked burgers before they went to the community pool. Now he is watching his own children build memories.
"I know when my children were born and she got to meet her great-granddaughters. You weren't sure you knew how much time she would be around, but now my daughter is almost going to high school, and she still has a great-grandmother," Charles Grafstrom said. "That is pretty amazing. It's very amazing."
Another resident, 100-year-old veteran Jake, has lived through three wars and a century of change. He shrugged when asked how it feels to reach 100.
"Well, not much different from 99," Jake said.
His advice for a long life is as practical as it comes.
"Oh, not worrying too much, sleeping, getting enough sleep and exercise with it," he said.
Fisher said working around so many residents who have passed 100 has changed how she views aging.
"They've seen so much. It's just an amazing thing," she said. "They're definitely people that I want to look up to ... It's just a beautiful example of who we all should be striving to be."
Fisher added that other residents are "chomping" to reach their own 100th birthdays and join the informal club.
EagleCrest staff say the milestone is a reminder that the campus is not simply a place to spend one's final years, but a community where residents continue to vote, follow Minnesota sports, play bingo, travel when they can and hold on tightly to family.
"Any age that we serve, it's an honor to be a part of their end of life and help them continue to live," Fisher said. "This is where we want them to thrive and enjoy the rest of the days that they have. And these, these individuals, are a testament to that."