Local woman celebrates 109th birthday
Feb. 19—Julia McDougal, who recently turned 109, has seen the Yuba-Sutter area evolve over the years.
She first moved to Browns Valley in the 1950s and for about 20 years, she worked as the secretary to Woodrow Jang, the owner of Jay's — a department store that was located on D Street in Marysville — and she would go to nearby stores for lunch.
But many of the places McDougal remembers in Marysville are no longer there.
"Things have changed so much and the stuff she remembers is just gone," said Susan Lee, one of McDougal's daughters (McDougal is also the mother of Mindi Wojdylak and Mike Jones).
McDougal, who lives in Browns Valley with Lee, celebrated her 109th on Feb. 8.
"(I) talked to people that very kindly called me and Susie read me all of the messages on Facebook," McDougal said. "So I had a wonderful day."
Lee said she made muffins from a coffee cake mix with bran on the morning of McDougal's birthday.
"It's just a number, so I'm 109, but I look back on those 109 years and it's pretty big," McDougal said. "... I just take it one day at a time, do what I can and go on. I just trust that whatever happens to me was intended and cope with it."
Lee said her mother likes people and she's also concerned about others, which she thinks "makes a difference in one's attitude in life."
"I love people and I've learned to accept people as they are," McDougal said.
She said she spends her days listening to digital books and she and Lee do the crossword puzzle in the newspaper after breakfast.
"(Lee) reads the newspaper with me every morning," McDougal said.
McDougal said some of her memories from over the years include going to Niagara Falls with her father when she was a teenager; taking her first airplane ride in 1930; and working for the Army in Europe.
"I'm just awed by her and her mind is still so good," Lee said. "I'm blessed, too, because ... she's just pleasant to be around and just another year older."
