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Show Lucy celebrates 101st birthday f v " - I : - - J? ""V- V J I v x V, X 1 V By GARY R. BLODGETT BOUNTIFUL Lucy Christ-ensen Christ-ensen celebrated her 101st birthday birth-day Monday with a simple philosophy philoso-phy "I just got up in the morning and started a new day, and a new year." With each new day and each new year, Lucy "just keeps plugging along; doing what she can and getting get-ting a lot of rest." "I get tired more easily than I used to," she said from her own living room at 160 E. 500 S., Bountiful. Boun-tiful. "But I'm still in good health and can take care of myself." : Lucy and her sister, Vera Day, who will turn 91 in October, live alone in their respective homes in Bountiful. Both admit to being so independent that they won't live together. ; Lucy gets around with a cane of I L Lucy didn't marry until she was 52. 7 didn't want to get married too young "she chuckled. sorts), it's really her favorite umbrella, and Vera has no trouble taking care of herself. They like each other, but don't want to leave their respective homes except to Lucy Christensen, left, celebrated her 101st birthday Monday with family members and friends while her sister, Vera Day, will have to wait until October to celebrate her 91st anniversary. Of eight brothers and sisters, four have lived beyond 90 years of age. because of her age. Vera began working in the Bountiful Boun-tiful Post Office at the beginning of World War II and spent several years there before going on an LDS mission. Lucy and her husband also filled an LDS mission before he died. Referring to the "early days," when both were switchboard operators, oper-ators, they said things were a lot more "personable" then. "You knew most everyone in town and it was a much different life than today," to-day," said Vera. In addition to their longevity, both have enjoyed good health all their lives. Relatives say Lucy hasn't seen a doctor "for more than 50 years" and that was only to check on a temporary loss of hearing. cents for one hour. She would also play for dances every Friday night until midnight for $2 per night. She also accompanied the silent movie pictures that came to town and later played the piano and organ in the Bountiful Second LDS Ward for more than 30 years. Lucy and Vera lived in Lucy's home across the street from the Bountiful Second Ward (Canterbury (Canter-bury Hall) until Vera married and moved out. Lucy didn't marry until she was 52 years old. "I didn't want to get married too young," she chuckled. Lucy and Vera lived their childhood child-hood in Randolph on a ranch before be-fore moving to Bountiful. Chris Christensen lived next door in Randolph Ran-dolph and married Lucy after his first wife died. Lucy and her husband didn't have children but Vera's children consider Lucy to be their second mother. Both Lucy and Vera have held many church callings and have been active in the community. Vera drove a car until a year ago when her insurance was cancelled spend a few hours or a day together. Contrary to doctors' orders, both love to eat sweets, especially chocolate. Vera does most of her own cooking while Lucy is served "meals on wheels." Otherwise, both care for their personal needs and Lucy keeps busy puttering in the yard while Vera likes to do needlework. Vera's favorite meal to cook is fried chicken and potato salad. "I cook a lot of things, but fried chicken chick-en is a favorite of all my friends and relatives," she said. ; Lucy said she likes most of the meals on wheels, but couldn't get along without her snacks and chocolate cho-colate sweets. "I'm never without snacks," she confided. Lucy and Vera come from a family with longevity at least among the children. Of the eight children, four have lived to be at least 90 with Vera being the youngest. Lucy was number five and one sister died just after turning turn-ing 103 and another lived to be 94. Since she reached the century mark, Lucy has slowed down a bit, but was caught shoveling the sidewalk side-walk of snow last winter. She still putters around her yard aVid gets her exercise walking back and forth across her front porch. Lucy has lived alone about 25 years. Family members and neighbors neigh-bors keep a close eye on her. Vera has been alone 1 1 years and enjoys taking care of herself despite having hav-ing several family members close by. Both sisters are musically talented, having learned to play the piano and organ at an early age. Lucy taught piano lessons at an early age, giving lessons for 25 |