Mothers' Day every day: Five generations of one SWFL family stay close

Lydia Kruesi knows she has a good life.

At 100, she's not slowing down much. She did quit driving years ago but that was only to keep her adult children happy.

Now she has a golf cart to get around the sprawling campus at Vi of Bentley Village, a retirement community in North Naples.

On Mother’s Day, Kruesi and four more generations of her family, with an age spread of one to 100, will get together. Some will go to breakfast at Bernie’s City Diner nearby. Others will come for lunch.

At her Bentley apartment, chances are good a friendly but competitive game of Dominoes will get underway. The game could go on for hours.

A bouquet of flowers from a son, John Kruesi, 68, who lives out of state will have arrived.

That’s a good Mother’s Day when you already have everything.

“Don’t I know it,” said Kruesi, who doesn’t waste words.

She’s got six children, nine grandchildren, 11 great grandchildren and one great, great grandson.

They don’t all live in the area but many do. She’s never lacking for family company. Her eldest daughter, Cindy Kruesi, 76, lives in the next building in Bentley Village.

Her eldest son, Frank Kruesi, 72, lives 90 minutes away in Englewood. He and his wife, Barb, come down to Naples every Sunday.

He learned it’s the slowest day on his mother’s engagement calendar.

Cindy Kruesi’s son, Scott Duval, 50, lives in Bonita Springs. So does his daughter, Brooke Duval, 19, and her toddler, Greyson Tutin, who turned one in January.

That adds up to four generations of family at hand for the family matriarch.

“I love it,” Kruesi said. “I don’t know what I would do without them.”

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The family makes a point of staying close

It has always been important for the family to stay close, even as careers and life’s demands made that tricky, Frank Kruesi said.

Growing up they moved often so the six children were close. That stuck as adults.

Their mother stayed at home to raise them. Their father, William Kruesi, worked for General Electric. He died in 2003 at 82.

“He was an incredibly kind and generous person,” Frank Kruesi said. “He never, ever, got angry. He was a model father.”

Cindy Kruesi moved from Bonita Bay into her apartment at Bentley Village in 2014.

Initially the mother-daughter duo lived a distance from each other. Now they are in adjacent buildings because of redevelopment at Bentley.

Every morning at 6:45 they meet up halfway between their two buildings for a walk around the lake. It takes about 15 minutes.

“Every other day she does FaceTime exercises with Heidi (Miller) who lives in Pennsylvania,” Cindy Kruesi said, referring to her youngest sibling who is 66.

They do chair exercises and other things to keep her mobile and to strengthen her muscles; her mother loathes the idea of ever having to use a cane, a walker or a wheelchair.

She did have both knees replaced, one at 87 and the other at 94. She has a pacemaker but has never had a heart attack.

"She was a tennis player and she's always been active," her daughter said.

Another daughter, Betsy Clark, 71, lives in Australia and they stay in touch with regular FaceTime chats on Saturday. Kruesi said she's not crazy about the computer or how to get on Facebook but has learned to deal with it.

“It’s 11 o’clock there and 8 a.m. here,” Kruesi said.

Her second eldest daughter, Caroline Barbie, 74, lives in Maine and makes the trip fairly often. She was in town in early May but headed back before Mother's Day.

“I try to come every couple of months,” Barbie said.

She takes her mother to the grocery store, usually Publix, and sometimes they make the trek to Seed to Table.

"She really likes it," Barbie said.

They don't really do anything special. "We just mostly hang out," Barbie said. "I love to drive the golf cart."

There are entire family reunions, the most recent one was last July when Kruesi turned 100. What was it like turning 100?

“I take life as it comes,” Kruesi said. “I am proud of them, my children, my grandchildren.”

What’s not discussed at reunions is politics to avoid any ill feelings. “We don’t talk about politics at all,” Frank Kruesi said. “Like the rest of the country, we cross the spectrum.”

During holidays the siblings space their visits so each get time with their mother.

“There is a lot to be said about one-on-one time but there’s also a lot to be said about getting together,” he said.

Her mind is sharp

At 100, Kruesi is in good health with no medical conditions. “As far as I know,” she said.

She stopped driving at 90 even though she knew she still could drive.

“I did not want to worry my children,” she said. “I did it for them.”

"She is great with the golf cart," Cindy Kruesi said.

Bentley Village is a lively community and her mother has made some good friends through the years.

She used to have a group she played bridge with from her old building but now they only see each other once a month or so.

She eats two or three times a week at one of the restaurants in the retirement community; the rest of the time she cooks at home for herself. She still likes to cook even though she did it every day when the children were young, same with shuffling them to doctors' appointments and what not. She did all the housework.

When Frank visits, they play chess. The chess board has belonged in the family for several generations. No doubt it will stay that way.

“She is really quite a good chess player,” he said.  “It’s incredible how active she is mentally. It’s remarkable.”

This article originally appeared on Naples Daily News: Five generations of one family make a point of staying close