Meet Lois Widmark, the 104-year-old Minnesotan who was a World War II "Code Girl"
When Lois Widmark turned 104 in January, the party wasn't quite as big, but that's OK. These days she spends a lot of time doing what she loves at her home in Ivanhoe, Minnesota, alongside her 5-year-old cat Muggins.
"I read a lot. I embroidered 52 dish towels two years ago," Lois Widmark said. "Muggins and I have a lot of time together."
Time at home is time for reflection. In 1944, when Lois Widmark was 22, she wanted to help with the war effort. So she and a friend decided to join the Navy.
"That's what people said, I let my patriotism get the best of me," she said.
She became part of a women's branch called WAVES, which stood for "Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Services." Lois Widmark and thousands of others were given the task of cracking German and Japanese codes for the U.S. military. They were known as the "Code Girls."
"There were a lot of girls doing that," she said. "We had to be at least 5 feet tall and weigh 95 pounds."
They worked with mechanical devices called "Bombes" to crack the codes, much like the one invented by British mathematician Alan Turing. Lois Widmark and the WAVES were highly effective.
"I only wish I would have joined sooner," she said.
She moved back to Nebraska after the war and went to college on the GI bill. She got a teaching degree and then moved to Ivanhoe after marrying her husband, Arnold. He also served in World War II.
"Both my parents are World War II veterans. That didn't happen very often that both parents were World War II veterans," said son Alan Widmark.
In recent years, Lois Widmark wrote a memoir called "Echoes of My Life." It details her childhood, her time in the military and how she and her family built a life in western Minnesota.
She sells the memoir and a photo for $100, with all the money going towards a scholarship for future teachers at Southwest State University. Afterall, she's their oldest living alum.
Lois Widmark also does her best to keep up with other women who were part of World War II, and "The Greatest Generation."
"Not many of them even get to 100 before they're gone," she said.
A sad reality, but also the reason why she believes it's her duty to tell their story and carry on their legacy.
"World War II was everybody's war," she said.
Lois Widmark was appointed to welcome back Admiral William Halsey to the Naval headquarters after the war. She says in addition to her husband Arnold, her brother Sonny also served in World War II.
