In 1906, the Wright Brothers patented the airplane, the average U.S. wage was 22 cents per hour, there were 45 stars on the American flag, and 8,000 cars in the entire United States with only 144 miles of paved roads.
The average U.S. life expectancy at that time was 47-years-old.
On Wednesday, Nora Larsen will surpass that number by 53 years as she celebrates her 100th birthday.
‘Life has flowed along,? says the former Brandon Township resident now as she leans back in a chair at her Davison home and gets ready to share memories from a century of living.
Nora was born Sept. 27, 1906 in Sanilac County. She was the second child of David and Ida Cook, who were farmers.
Larsen’s earliest memory is the death of one of her sisters, a twin who died shortly after birth. Larsen was 4-years-old.
She grew up with three sisters, and when asked what she remembers about her childhood, she initially answers with one word: ‘Obedience.?
Her mother would cut a fresh switch off an elm tree and use it on Nora and her sisters when they weren’t obedient, but Larsen also recalls there was ‘a lot of love? in the home.
She began attending school when she was about 6-years-old, walking 2 miles to a 1-room schoolhouse out in the country. She already knew her ABCs and how to count to ten. She learned to write on a slate with a slate pencil.
At home, Larsen worked hard, doing whatever she was told. She pumped water, collected eggs, did the dishes. She refused, however, to learn to milk a cow, something her sister had to do all the time.
There was not much time for playing, but she had two dolls that she enjoyed.
In her childhood home, they used kerosene lamps. She was always cold, and there was no inside water. Baths were not taken everyday, and when they were, water was heated on the woodstove.
‘If you didn’t get the hot water first, you were out of luck,? she says. ‘That’s what you had…It’s hard to believe today that you could do without so many things, and yet here I am.?
She remembers her mother as a tremendous cook, but says she would have eaten the food regardless.
‘You sat up to the table and ate what was put on it. You didn’t leave before you were excused,? says Larsen, who marvels at how her mother could make a meal with only a limited amount of ingredients to work with. ‘You never said, ‘I don’t want that.??
Larsen says she was given a good religious foundation from the time she was a small child. The Cook family went 3-4 miles to church every Sunday using a horse and buggy during warm months, and a sleigh in the winter.
She laughs remembering when her father got their first automobile when she was about 12, a Ford with a copper radiator. They pulled up to church and everyone wanted to ride in it.
Larsen met her first husband, Gordon Considine, when she was 18, through friends. They were married in June 1926 at a church office in Sardinia (he was Canadian). They honeymooned at Niagara Falls.
Nora and Gordon had two sons, James and William, born in 1927 and 1930, respectively.
‘I loved my children,? says Larsen. ‘They were very special to me.?
The family struggled in the Great Depression, although Larsen recalls they were fortunate that Gordon, a printer, didn’t lose his job until well into it and she was able to get a job in a dry goods store, earning $7 a week for 50 hours of work. Her husband did whatever odd jobs he could to make 50 cents or $1.
‘You could buy a loaf of bread for a nickel,? says Larsen. ‘But where was the nickel??
She has nothing but praise for President Franklin D. Roosevelt, saying that without him, the country would have never come alive.
‘He knew people were suffering. He cared. He knew things had to change.?
Larsen laments the current state of American affairs, saying the U.S. is farther in debt now than it was then. She listens to the news and is aggravated with the government.
‘They forgot why they were elected? to represent you and I, and not play Tiddlywinks with the president,? says Larsen, who loves America, but says she is worried for it, and she despises war. She still remembers watching soldiers return from World War I at a train station with her mother.
Larsen finds it difficult to explain what she feels at watching 100 years pass and seeing so many things change.
‘You go from horse and buggy, to the airplane and computer… I don’t know how to describe it,? she says.
Neither can she explain why she has lived so long, other than to say she has never smoked or drank alcohol and has always eaten well and walked with God.
‘If I could go back, I would have written a journal,? says Larsen, who married Carl Larsen at the age of 71, 15 years after her first husband’s death. Her second husband died after 20 years of a very happy marriage.
Larsen’s hearing and eyesight are slipping, but she is alert and gets around with only the aid of a walking cane. She is proud that she still has her own teeth and has only lost two.
She shares what she says is the most important lesson she has learned in 100 years: ‘Accept life with its blessings and problems and this too shall pass away.?
Larsen is proud of her family. She has seven grandchildren, seven great-grandchildren, and two great-great grandsons.
‘The greatest gift of all is being a grandmother,? says Larsen, who was expecting to see them on Sept. 24, as her daughter-in-law, Marilyn Considine, planned a birthday party for her then.
Larsen is eternally grateful to her daughter-in-law, taking every opportunity to praise the woman with whom she has lived for the past three-and-a-half years.
Larsen has outlived two husbands, both her sons, all three sisters, and many other family members and friends. She said she is ready to join them.
‘I’m going to journey on,? she says. ‘I’ve made my reservations… One of these days I’ll step on glory and know I’m home.?