'She's seen a great deal of change': Longtime Randolph resident celebrates 100th birthday

Over 100 years, Audrey Gertrude Smith has seen the installation of electricity into her family's farm house in Randolph, as well as the introduction of indoor plumbing.

At one point, her house burned down, forcing Smith and her family to live in a garage for years while they rebuilt their home.

She's sewn, baked, cooked, crocheted, kept bees and raised a family, whose members very evidently love and cherish her.

"She has seen a great deal of change," said daughter Dorothy Smith Wise, her eldest child.

On Sunday, Smith celebrates her 100th birthday.

In honor of the occasion, her family has traveled from corners of the country both near and far to be with her on the family farm in Randolph, a farm that's been recognized by the Catholic Diocese of Youngstown in 2012 as a centennial farm. It's been in the family for more than 100 years.

Smith still calls the farm her home, but now spends much of her time with her daughter in Arizona.

Days before the celebration that is bringing close to 100 guests across five generations to the farm, Smith sat in a recliner in the living room, a string of pearls around her neck. Wise said her mom always wears them.

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Close at hand is a book of Sudoku puzzles, something Smith does to keep her mind sharp.

Even so, a century of life is a long time. Smith's memory isn't what it used to be. Thankfully, her daughter and granddaughter, Lisa Baker, were there to share some of their fond recollections, filling in the gaps.

Growing up in Portage County

Wise grew up on the farm with her mother and three brothers, Walter, Harry, and Charles. When asked what she remembers about her mother from her childhood, her immediate answer is about the work her mother put in on the farm. "She baked her own bread — she ground the wheat to bake the bread," Wise said.

Somewhere in the old house is a box full of ribbons (almost 100 of them, according to Baker) that Smith won over the years for her breads and canned goods that she submitted for judgement at the Randolph County Fair.

They also kept bees, using the honey as a substitute for something that Wise said was never in the house — sugar. "My whole family worked together to extract the honey," she said.

Smith also kept a vegetable garden, canning for future use what they didn't immediately eat. Potatoes and green beans were in abundance.

In 1961, the house burned down, decimating the family's food stores.

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"We had over 100 gallons of honey burn," Wise said, "We had — mom said — probably about 365 or 360 canned vegetables, and the potato bin down in the basement was totally filled. We lost all of that when the house burned down."

While certainly a demoralizing experience, the fire didn't drive the family off the land or seem to dampen their spirits much. The family rebuilt their house while living on the property in a stone garage.

"We lived in there five years before we finally got to move into this house," Wise said. "The walls were curtains."

'Strong, determined people'

This tenacity in the face of hardship tracks with the way that Baker describes her family generally: "strong, determined, people." Baker's cousin, Anna Marie Smith, points out that Grandma Smith didn't stop cutting her own lawn until about seven years ago, further underscoring the current of perseverance running through their blood.

Some people might call that sort of tenacious attitude stubbornness, said Baker, but she prefers to call it determination when she sees it in herself. An openness to new experience is another part of her own personality that she recognizes in her grandmother.

Baker remembers coming out to the farm and getting to play, exploring the property, milking cows, and playing the large rosewood parlor grand piano, now unplayable due to age, the lid closed, covered with pictures of the family. She remembers her grandmother teaching her how to garden.

"It was the best," Baker said. "I only wish that we could have spent more time here...really good memories here, so much fun." She even associates the smell of cinnamon toast with her grandmother.

She's excited to be back on the eve of her grandmother's centennial celebration. It will be the first time that everyone has gotten together since Smith's 90th birthday, she said.

"I want to say that I can't believe that we made it, but knowing Grandma I can absolutely believe because long ago she said, 'I'm going to be 100," said Baker.

Baker said mother and grandmother are very much alike. The first example she conjures is her grandmother's artistic side. She also mentions friendliness.

"Grandma did flower arranging for the church for I don't even know how long," Baker said. The flowers came out of a flower garden that she kept alongside the vegetable garden.

Baker said she and her mother both arrange flowers.

"One Saturday," said Wise, speaking about her mother, "when she's taking the flowers over to church, she needed some more flowers. Guess what was growing along the side of the road? Mom stopped and cut them, and added them to her flowers."

Generosity and a willingness to serve others is something mother and daughter both recognize in themselves as something that came from Smith.

Wise said her parents always did repair work for one of her aunts whose husband wasn't quite so handy.

Wise and Baker both donate their time to the church, something Smith did as well.

A love of cooking, baking, sewing, and quilting are some other things that Baker sees in all three generations

Growing up on a farm necessitates clever problem solving, Baker said, and that novel approach to difficulty is something she puts to use in her own life.

"Something that I see in my mom that's absolutely incredible is — and she may have gotten this from her mom but also probably from her dad as well — figuring out how to make things easier," Baker said.

A celebration 100 years in the making

Smith's daughter explains their plans for the big day. First, she said, they'll be going to Mass at St. Peters.

"And then at 12:30, or thereabouts, my daughter and niece that's coming are having an August Fest," Wise said.

It's more or less Oktoberfest, but in August. Baker and her husband, Tim, have been holding an Oktoberfest celebration at their home in California for some time, and they've perfected the art of serving large groups of people.

Smith said that she is looking forward to seeing her family on Sunday and celebrating her milestone birthday.

What's her secret to longevity?

"Eat honey for a long life."

Contact reporter Derek Kreider at DKreider@gannett.com

This article originally appeared on Record-Courier: Randolph native celebrates 100th birthday