SOUTH OGDEN -- Kathleen Jenkins celebrated her 101st birthday on Feb. 2, but she said she has no special secret to living a long and healthy life.
"I just take one day at a time," said Jenkins. She said she does take good care of herself with regular exercise. She walks and attends exercise classes and gets her rest time in. She says she is in good health other than some mild arthritis.
Jenkins was born in Cornwall, England in 1909. She came to the United States in 1929 with her parents. They came to Aberdeen, Wash.
"Father worked in the mill there for a while, but then the Great Depression hit," said Jenkins. She said her father's brother needed help working in the plumbing business in the Ogden area, so Jenkins moved with her parents to Ogden and has made the Ogden area her home ever since. Jenkins said her parents lived the remainder of their life in the Ogden area as well.
She was the first born in her family and had two younger sisters and one brother, but is the only one still living. She attended school in Cornwall as a child and said it was a long walk up a big hill to school because there was not a school in her neighborhood. She attended the same school all her school years, but there were two separate schools next to each other, one for the boys and one for the girls.
Jenkins is a member of the First United Methodist Church and said she has worked in the Sunday School and sang in the choir for many years. She still enjoys singing and regularly performs with the Harrison singers. She says the group meets to practice their songs once each week and performs at assisted living and retirement homes.
Jenkins is also a member of the Rebecca Lodge and said they meet twice a month.
Jenkins married and had one child, a daughter who lives in California and was a school nurse. She enjoyed spending time with her daughter in the Girl Scouts when she was a child. She has four granddaughters and nine great-grandchildren, and is excited that a new little great-granddaughter is expected in June. Jenkins makes the trip to visit her family in California a couple of times a year by plane.
Jenkins said she has made the trip back to visit Cornwall with her daughter and showed her all the places she grew up, but has enjoyed her many years in the Ogden area.
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