This article
appeared in the Grand Forks Herald in
1993.
WALKING HER WAY
TO 100 ALICE IRWIN GOT OFF THE FARM TO
SAVE HER LIFE -- AND IT WORKED
A Minto,
N.D., doctor once told Cecil Irwin that if
he wanted to keep his wife alive, he'd
better get her off the farm. He did want
to keep her alive, so he did move.
Alice Irwin was
in her late 40s working much too hard on
the farm four miles from Ardoch, five miles
from Forest River and six miles from
Johnstown, N.D. The doc said she may not
see 30. They took his advicse.
Today Alice is
looking at double 50. If
that doctor could only see her now.
Twice every day, arm and arm with her
daughter, Beulah Hodges, 73. Alice walks
the corridors of Columbia Mall. It's their
exercise.
Alice and Beulah
live together as close as a mother and her
daughter can be, they're also protective
of one another I had her when my soul was
growing up and I worked. Turn about is fair
play," Beulah said. "She's just a child
yet. She's my baby," Alice added, and off
they go.
At 99, Alice is
charming, little lady standing 4 feet 6
inches. Beulah is proud that her mother
"stands remarkably straight." Alice's eyes
have dimmed. Macular degeneration of the retina, "is my main
fault," she says. He little aches and
pains, "always feel better after I've
walked. We don't walk fast. I get out of
breath if we go too fast."
They've been
spotted and admired by other walkers. Among them, Doug Fonlaine, Grand
Forks. "They look just alike and
they are so interesting to talk to. I was
playing Santa Claus and here they were
walking around. I noticed them one day and
went and gave each a big hug. Alice is
everlasting smiling. It is so darn sweet.
They are the cutest pair."
Since Beulah
retired in 1980, after 31 years with Great
Northern and Burlington Northern Railroad,
the two have faithfully walked to keep
limber.
No cooking at their house
Every
morning they leave their south Grand Forks
homes and have breakfast at either the
Village Inn or Grama
Butterwick's.
Beulah has bacon and eggs. "I have Raisin
Bran and she gives me a piece of bacon,"
Alice said. Then it's off to the mall.
"We come in the
north door by Penney's and go through
Target and turn around and go back,"
Beulah said. "It's getting to be as we go
along everyone speaks to us," Beulah said.
"Sometimes we talk (to each other) and
sometimes we go the whole round and don't
say anything."
The two eat a
lunch of only fruit at home. "Once in a
great, great while, I'll eat a cookie."
Alice admits. There's a time for rest, but
at 4:30 p.m., it's back the mall and a
different route. "We park by the Royal
Fork and walk through Dayton's and back,"
Beulah said. Each night they dine either
at the Royal Fork Buffet Restaurant or at
the Tomahawk Cafe. "I'm too lazy to cook
"Beulah said. "And
I can't see to cook," Alice adds.
Walking is
nothing new to Alice "I've always walked.
When I was a teen-ager, we thought nothing
of walking three or four miles to a party,
playing games all evening and then walking
home. We played games. We didn't dance.
I've never danced a step in my life. My
dad didn't think it was right to dance or
to play cards.
Born in 1893
Alice
was born in Griswold, Iowa, in 1893. Her
family moved to Eagle Lake, Texas, when
she was 5. Ever since being caught on the
edge of the Galveston hurricane in 1900,
she's been afraid of strong winds. Her
family also lived in Spokane, Wash., and
for a short time in Canada. Married at 19,
Alice was 23 when she and Cecil moved back
to his family's farm in North Dakota.
Besides keeping
house, Alice had two daughters. She helped
put in and take off each year's crop.
"I worked out in the field when we had
horses. I worked out in the field after we
had tractors." She fed the pigs, the
chickens, the turkeys. She cooked for a
crew of 26 threshers each fall. "If she
was cooking something and found out one of
the hired men didn't like it, she'd make
something different for him," Beulah said.
Alice defends herself. "Well, I couldn't
help it. I thought, someday I'm going to
be old and I'll want someone to be kind to
me." There were only two things Alice
didn't do back on the farm. "I never could
milk. I could not learn to milk, and I
didn't harness the horses. The harness was
too heavy to lift."
After doctor's
orders, Alice and Cecil lived in Grand
Forks during the winter months. They moved
here permanently in 1951.
Their land was
sold to Walter Yon. "The farm was in the
Irwin name for 90 years and we hope it
will be in the Yon
family for another 90 years," Alice said.
The Irwins also
wintered in Florida, Arizona and
California. Alice's other daughter died in
1972 and Cecil died in 1974.
For pleasure
Alice says her four cassette players at
various spots in their home "keep me
busy." She has 58 tapes, including
recordings of the New Testament, variously
readings and the music she enjoys.
A lover of
travel, Alice has been to every one of the
50 states. "She's been back to all the
places she's lived," Beulah said. Last
summer Beulah drove them to Longview,
Wash., for a golden wedding anniversary.
Last year, they also made trips to
Minneapolis, South Dakota and Chicago.
Three years ago, they drove to San
Antonio, Texas, to attend the high school
graduation of Alice's
great-great-grandson. "She loves to ride
and I love to drive. I've got over 90,000
miles on a 7-year-old car," Beulah said.
"And I've gone all of them with her except
around town here a little bit," Alice
added.
Maybe Alice has
had a long life because she's tried to
keep positive. "I was bound I wasn't going
to be a complainer. My mama and my papa
weren't."
She's proud of
her 14 great-grandchildren 18
great-great-grandchildren. "Before I'm
100, I'll have another." Many of them are
coming from all over to help celebrate her
next birthday. Three cousins are coming
from Spokane this month. "That's when the
party will start," Beulah said.
Alice tosses a
parting word over her shoulder after
bidding adieu: "I'll try to stay alive
until Aug. 10." That's the day she'll be
100.
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