Emma Krueger celebrates 100th birthday

If Emma Krueger?s spirit could be bottled up and sold, she just might be the wealthiest woman in Presque Isle County. Emma is a vibrant and humorous woman, and anyone who stops to visit with her would soon come to the same conclusion. She has not slowed down, and at 100 years old she does not see any reason to do so. ?My head is all there,? said Emma. ?Maybe that?s why I don?t feel 100; maybe I am only 70.? Emma feels that it is merely her body that has aged, but her mind and her memory are still quite sharp.

?Only my body is giving out; if I could change my head to someone else?s body, I would be good.? In a time when people are buying up vitamins, taking yoga classes and counting calories all in the hopes of living a long life, Emma has already come up with the correct combination of remedies. ?I don?t smoke and I don?t drink and I cook real good,? said Emma. She also feels that her good health is a direct result to the hard work she has exhibited throughout her life. Emma?s history is one that cannot possibly be shared in one sitting, but she is proud of her heritage and enjoys telling her story.

?I tell ya, if you wrote it all down, you would have a book!? said Emma. ?I can remember everything since I was seven; that is one thing I?ve got is good memories.? In 1922, Emma came over to America from Germany, not able to speak a word of English, although she soon learned. She remembers that the boat she came over on was named Monclay and she made the trip with several of her brothers and sisters, as well as her parents. Her father had been in America for 13 years during the war and then went back to Berlin. He found himself unhappy with his return and decided to take his family back to the United States. Emma was the second oldest child in a family that would eventually boast 12 children. Upon their arrival in America, Emma?s family purchased some land in Hillman and built a farm. As a teenager, Emma worked on another farm where she was paid $3 a week. Although she was not making a lot of money, she was able to help out her family.

?My dad needed a horse and on my $3 a day, I saved up enough money to buy him that horse,? said Emma. She worked on the farm for nearly two years before she became aggravated over her small wage. ?I thought I should make more money,? explained Emma. ?So I said, baloney! I am going to Detroit!? Emma moved to Detroit to work in the Ford Factory when she was 18. Her job on the assembly line was to put on a chain that allowed the window of an automobile to be rolled up and down. Her determination to make more money paid off and she was now earning $7 a day. Emma kept this job for about two years before she was laid off for six weeks. It was during this six weeks that her life took her down a path she was not sure she was prepared for, but one that has brought her to where she is today. ?I was laid off and so I came home and during that time I married my husband, Paul Krueger, in 1924,? said Emma.

With her husband, Emma moved into the Krueger Farm, which has since become a part of the landscape of Hawks Highway. Her husband did the farming, while Emma took care of her elderly in-laws, Ernistine and Louie Krueger. ?I took care of grandma for six years and I cared for grandpa for 32 years,? said Emma. ?I also had to work on the farm, and it was very physical work.? ?My husband always said he never promised me a rose garden, and it wasn?t always a rose garden, it was hard work.? Emma and her husband eventually had five children, four girls and one boy. She had a daughter, Gertie, who passed away at the age of 24. Emma has two other daughters who now live in Alpena, Dorothy LaFleche and Esther Robinson. She has another daughter, Betty Lou Krueger, who lives in Oregon. Sadly, Emma?s son Paul, passed away recently. His wife, Dorris, lives in the Krueger farmhouse where Emma and her husband started their family.

Along with her children, Emma has a large family, many of who live in close proximity to her own home in Hawks. She has lived in that home which her father built for the past 52 years. She has 15 grandchildren, 32 great grandchildren and seven great-great grandchildren. Yet, Emma?s story does not stop there. She is an animated joke teller and can name off a list of hobbies that keep her busy on a daily basis. ?I can do anything from soup to nuts,? said Emma. ?I can do anything my heart desires.? One big hobby of hers is gardening and one drive past her house in warmer weather will prove to anyone that she excels at it. Her front yard is known to be speckled with different colors and arrays of flowers. At one time, Emma made her hobby into a business and arranged flowers for weddings. ?I?m tellin? ya, I did good wedding flowers,? said Emma. ?I was just as good as a florist.? In fact, Emma was so good at her floral arranging that she continued to do it for 33 years. Along with flowers, Emma has a talent for crocheting afghans and has created more than 400 in her lifetime. She has five orders in for her afghans now and each one can take up to 68 hours to complete.

However, the one hobby that Emma boasts that is most appealing to the senses is her love for cooking and baking. As Emma showed off her many afghans, 12 loaves of bread were rising in her kitchen, not to mention the cinnamon rolls that were waiting their turn in the oven. ?I don?t use no measuring, no nothing! I can tell by the texture with my hands if the bread dough is right,? said Emma. ?Little bits of this, and a little bit of that; that?s how you make good bread.? Even at the age of 100, Emma has not shied away from dreaming. She says that if she hadn?t married she would have liked to be a translator. She can still speak her native German and at one time, was also able to speak

Polish. Now, she says, she can understand the language, but has a tough time putting it together. Emma not only had dreams of being a translator, she also had bigger and better dreams.

?If I could do my life over, I would get all my college and be a very educated woman,? said Emma. ?I would have liked to be president; I?d be the best president, I tell ya.? Emma said that as president she ?wouldn?t have so much war between countries? and that she would ?pay all of the bills.? Furthermore, she would like to abolish welfare and get people back to working hard, physically and mentally, toward a good life.

Perhaps Emma?s ideas are not that far fetched, and one conversation with her will prove to anyone that what is working so well for her at age 100 could probably do wonders for the rest of the country. In honor of Emma and her contagious spirit, her family celebrated her milestone birthday at the family farm. All 47 family members attended and made it a ?beautiful birthday.? This Sunday, after the 9 a.m. mass at Faith Lutheran Church in Hawks, there will be a public celebration to wish Emma a happy birthday and to kick off her campaign for president. All are welcome to attend.

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