She faces the sunshine Mildred Gasaway, better known as "Granny," is pictured in her apartment. Her family calls this room, "Granny's sunflower kitchen." They say it reflects her sunny outlook on life. Comet photo by Jennifer Archibald "I feel wonderful," said Mildred Landes Gasaway of Flora, who will celebrate her 100th birthday in July. "I don't have an ache or pain anywhere."

"I still have my right mind. Thank God for that."

"I'm called 'Granny' by almost everyone in town," she said. And she calls almost everyone in town "honey."

Granny was born on July 11, 1906, in Chili, Ind., near Peru.

She said this little town of 75 people had more than 10 businesses and two churches.

Seven of those 75 were in her family - her parents, her four brothers, and herself.

"We were a happy family," she recalls. "My dad worked for the railroad. He made $2.50 a day, and we got along fine."

One of her earliest memories is the family's first vacation - when she was five.

"We went to Lukens Lake in a 'gypsy wagon,' and we took a tent. It was 12 miles away - a big trip. All the churches went there for picnics."

She said when she was 10, her grandparents got their first car.

"My mother was 89 when she died, and my dad was 74 when he died, and they never owned a car."

The birthday she remembers most was when she was 12. "It was a surprise, and the whole town was invited," she said.

"We had homemade ice cream and more than one cake."

There was a telephone office in her town, but she said only about a dozen people had phones.

"We used our neighbor's phone," she said.

"When I was 13 or 14, I decided I wanted a part-time job in the summer."

She got one at the telephone office, making 10 cents an hour. She remembers the day she went home and told her parents that a local person wanted her to put a call through to Chicago, and she did it.

"You would have thought I really did something," Granny said.

"I went two years of high school in Chili, and then when I was a junior, we moved to Peru."

She said the next summer she got a job as a secretary/bookkeeper and was paid $8 a week.

"That was good money," she said.

"I thought I was going back to finish high school, but my parents said, 'We don't think you need to go back.'"

She had a steady boyfriend, Ted.

"My mother wanted a big wedding," Granny said, "but Ted didn't."

So Ted and Granny eloped when she was 18, in 1924.

"We went to Chicago and then took a boat to St. Joe, Mich.," she said.

"We went to Michigan because we didn't have to have our parents' consent there."

When they came back, they didn't tell their parents, and they lived apart.

She said married women seldom worked back then, but since their marriage was a secret, she continued to work.

The secret had to be told when she found out she was expecting. That was the end of her job because she said pregnant women never worked.

They had two children, Bonnie Gasaway Stephan, and Ted Jr. Their son died in 1950 in an accident when he was home on leave from the service. They later lost a grandson who was killed in an accident while he was in the service.

Granny and Ted lived in the same house in Wabash for 32 years before moving to Flora in 1966. Ted died in 1970.

Granny was used to working. Among other jobs, she had worked in their own tavern and liquor store. She's quick to point out that she worked in those establishments, but she didn't drink.

"And I've never smoked a cigarette in my life," she added.

After she and her husband moved to Flora, her son-inlaw, Bob Stephan, asked her if she wanted a job at his IGA store. She took the job as a cashier, and worked there 12 and a half years.

"A lot of people know me from the IGA," she said.

She's also well-known in her church, the Flora Presbyterian. She proudly announces that her church is reaching a milestone this year, too. It also will be 100 years old.

Granny has a lifetime of stories, and one of her favorites is about the time she went hat shopping in Marion. She and other ladies were trying on an assortment of hats.

Granny looked at one woman and said, "I wouldn't wear that hat to a dog fight."

The woman looked at her indignantly and said, "I wore this hat in here and I intend to wear it home."

Her grandson, Trent, of Flora says Granny has a better memory than he has.

"And she has a better attitude and outlook on life than anybody I know," he said.

One room in her home exemplifies her sunny disposition. Her family calls it Granny's sunflower kitchen. Sunflowers can be seen everywhere in the decorations.

Granny said sunflowers are her favorite because "they're so alive."

Birthday

open house Mildred Gasaway of Flora has a daughter, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and great-great-grandchildren. Her family will have an open house to celebrate her 100th birthday. It will be held at her church, Flora Presbyterian, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on July 9, and all well-wishers are invited.