Quite A Life, Indeed
“I’ve lived quite a life, in my estimation,” said Elaine Pates, a recent member of the Century club.
Pates, a member at Faith Lutheran Church in Forest Lake turned 100 years old on February 7th and the celebration of this milestone birthday has continued all month.
“I never thought about being 100,” said Pates. “I always thought people in their 80’s and 90’s were old!”
Elaine’s mother died at 98. As her daughter Gloria Anderson puts it, “[after passing 98], the rest is gravy on the top.”
How much has changed since 1924? I had to ask.
“If I got my chores done, we’d go to see a double feature of the Tom Mix cowboy movies for a nickel,” said Pates. “But I had to earn it by baby-sitting for a quarter.”
Before the Lice Lady came along, a lice infestation was treated by dousing hair in kerosene and putting paper down on the table to comb out the bugs. “It was terrible!” she said.
Pates was born right before the depression and that time was especially hard on her family. “We were on welfare and couldn’t get anything sweet,” she said. “I could only get basic things and I still carry that with me [to this day]. I don’t care how poor you are, that’s when someone needs to feel like they’re worth it.”
Pates credits her faith as an integral part of her entire life. She played piano and sang in church with her sisters. She’s the 3rd oldest of 7 children raised in Saint Paul.
Church was important to her growing up and she continues to attend weekly Bible study at Faith Lutheran to this day. The fellowship is a significant part of what feeds her spiritually.
“[There’s nothing like] the feeling I get when I walk into church,” she said. “I talk to the Lord all the time. It’s all I know and it’s how I get through the day.”
Her husband Ronald died in 1993. She lives with Gloria, whose husband also died. The two of them are very close. “She is a Godsend to me,” said Anderson.
“I often ask God, ‘What am I here for? What am I doing?’” Pates said. “[Do I hear] anything??? I’m driving my daughter nuts!”
Her sense of humor is fully intact. Her sense of purpose is too. “Ok Lord, you gave me another day, now how can I help?”
Her advice to the younger generations is to be present in the moment.
“Growing up, neighbors were always dropping in,” she said. “I don’t see that freedom of how we played [with today’s youth]. We had to make up our games while playing outside or make-believe. Kids need to use their imaginations!”
She laments that this imagination is being wasted as people don’t actually notice what’s right in front of them.
“That’s what [parents] need right now,” said Pates. “You get to watch [your kids growing up]. Enjoy it!”
Elaine is gracious and says that she has so much to be thankful for. “I enjoy being alive as long as the good Lord has me here,” she said. “Thank you Lord, I’ve lived a life with you.”
Thank you, Lord, for Elaine. It’s clear that her purpose is to share that life with others.
Pastor John Klawiter is the senior pastor of Faith Lutheran Church, an ELCA congregation in Forest Lake. For more information, email him at