Longtime resident Sylvia Raymond turns 100

Surrounded by family and friends, Sylvia Raymond celebrated her 100th birthdayat Tendercare of Rogers City, February 25. There was ice cream, pop, chips, and a 2?-by-2? cake. The cake was decorated with colorful flowers, Raymond in an old photograph, along with the words, ?Happy 100th Birthday Mother.? The cake was from her only son, Gene and his wife Luella of Sault Ste. Marie. What about the candles? ?You couldn?t get a 100 candles on that cake,? Sylvia said. If the candles would have fit, she does not believe she could have blown them out. ?No, I know I couldn?t,? she added. The party was attended by about 50 people, which included Sylvia?s baby sister, Violet, 94, of Pontiac.

SYLVIA WAS born in Rogers Township to Hugo and Daisy Bruning. She grew up in ?Bruningsville? two-and-a-half miles south of Rogers City. Sylvia?s grandfather, who was a Civil War veteran that came to northern Michigan to claim 160 acres, homesteaded the property.

Even though Sylvia was still a baby, she can be considered a survivor of the Metz Fire of 1908. The fire was headed toward Bruningsville, but her father had the horse and buggy ready. ?My dad hooked up the team and put a feather bed on,? she said. ?He had the horses ready to drive into Lake Huron.? The winds shifted five miles from the farm and continued toward Calcite property. Sylvia credits her long life to healthy eating and hard work. She worked on the family farm, which delivered milk door-to-door, and also worked for a few years at the garment factory. Sylvia loves the out-of-doors, playing Bingo, and sewing. She also did a lot of traveling.

?Think about it, everybody grew their garden,? said Luella. ?They had their own chickens, they had their own beef. They did not run to McDonald?s or to get a pizza, that was unheard of.? Gene said they ate venison, wild rabbit, and duck. ?You ate good, worked hard, everybody canned, you had a farm, they had everything,? Luella added. The unhealthy part of her lifestyle cannot be explained, though, as Sylvia smoked into her late 50s, or early 60s. None of the family members are certain about when she stopped.

?You bet I did ? for many years,? Sylvia said of her smoking days. LONGEVITY RUNS in the Bruning fa

mily. Sylvia?s sister, Dale, was 20 days short of her 100th birthday and three other family members lived into their 90s. Otto Bruning passed away at 97 and Rueben lived to 93. Two other siblings lived into their 80s. Her husband, Alvin ?Chum? worked at Calcite for 46 years and 10 months. In June, it?ll be 30 years since his passing. Sylvia has lived at Tendercare of Rogers City for two years. She lived on her own until she was 95. Healthwise, Sylvia?s mind is sharp, but she was fighting a bout of pneumonia and arthritis the middle of last week. She was asked how she felt? ?We?ll, I don?t have much of a choice.?

?I told her you are going to make it, you might be the only one in your family that is going to make it, but you are going to make it,? said Luella. Sylvia does not have her sights set on 105, or even 101, it is much simpler than that ? with a laugh she said she wants to ?make it another day, I guess.?

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