102 reasons and more to celebrate
As Eunice Glover talked about her upcoming birthday at her retirement community in Eau Claire with the Leader-Telegram, she mentioned turning 100.
“Your daughters tell us you’re turning 102,” said a member of the staff.
“102? Well, that’s even better than 100. I skip two sometimes,” she said with a laugh. “You know, I just don’t feel that I’m that old.”
Glover, known to most as Patty, will be celebrating her birthday this week. What has allowed her to continue on for over a century?
“I think faith is what makes me live,” she said.
When asked what she wanted for her birthday, she initially said that she didn’t want any sort of gift. Then, she gave it more thought, becoming nostalgic.
“I lived in Casey, Minnesota — a little town of 3,000-something — and we had a little Baptist church, and that’s where I went to church. I always, from a little kid on, have been in church. And I loved it,” she said.
“So that’s what I’d like to do. I’d like to go back to my little church. We just had a wonderful fellowship. And I would think of that church all the time,” Glover said. “You know, nowadays, it’s a bigger church with a lot of members — you go to church, and you go home. And it doesn’t seem like we had the fellowship that we had back then.”
Regardless, Glover maintains an impressively sunny optimism.
“I could never be negative about anything,” she said, smiling. “My youth was positive. My life went well.”
Glover has three children: daughters Peggy Peterson and Ruane O’Brien, and son Jack Lindsley, along with grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren.
Peterson spoke with the newspaper about her impressions on her mother reaching such an impressive milestone.
“She used to tell us kids all the time that she was gonna live to be 100 and we just laughed at her,” said Peterson. “Now we tell her she’s going to outlive us!”
During her mother’s 100th birthday party, Peterson shared a story of the family taking Glover out to a steakhouse to celebrate.
“There was a table of probably five or six young boys, probably like 18, 19, 20, years old. And the waitress came back and announced to the whole place that somebody’s in there for her birthday,” Peterson recalled. She laughed in remembering the young boys’ faces of shock and confusion when it was announced that it was her mother’s 100th birthday.
She shared memories of how her parents “always made a big deal out of Christmas,” with her memories of Glover baking and cooking for the holiday being particularly strong. During get-togethers, Glover would gather loose change and put it inside an old purse so that her grandkids could “discover” money, which they would then use to buy candy at the local corner store.
Peterson also shared Glover’s love of the beach, of food (particularly chicken wings and gizzards) and of travel. Glover’s son Lindsley, now living on the West Coast, was stationed in the Navy around the world, leading to Glover also having adventures around the globe herself. She mentioned one of her favorite places was New Zealand, in part due to her having stayed there a month to visit her son.
“You know, after you fly for almost an entire day, you might as well stay there a month. I wasn’t going to go and not stay for a while,” Glover said with a laugh.
With her excitement of Lindsley coming back to town, Glover’s children and extended family are ready to make her 102nd a special day. Glover said she looked forward to having another memory with those she loves.
Is she looking forward to her 103rd birthday?
“Oh sure, I can go on and on,” said Glover. “As long as God lets me.”
