‘It’s a cause for celebration when somebody can make it to 100 (years old) and have as good a quality of life as you have,? said Dr. Michael Baker, an internist at the Clarkston Medical Group, to patient Alice Church.
Church celebrated 100 years of living on June 17, at the CMG building. She was surprised with a room full of 100 balloons and a birthday cake, which she shared with the various doctors and nurses who came in to congratulate her.
When asked about how she felt turning 100, Church replied with a laugh, ‘well, I think I’m about 50. Oh, that was a good year for me too. Working, I love working.?
Church began her working career at age 17, at Michigan Bell where she worked for 40 years. Her friends and family described her as a ‘woman before her time.?
‘I worked myself up from operator to senior operator and finally I was offered a job in Trenton as chief operator, which means I had charge of the whole office,? she said.
Church recalls during World War II having to run up and down the stairs to change the ‘ringing machines? when the air raid sirens went off and there was a blackout.
‘I had all these girls and they’d have maybe their boyfriend in the war, or maybe they had their husband in the war, so it was real hard,? Church said. ‘Then when the war ended, Roosevelt died, and that switchboard lit up like anything. Some of the girls started to cry because their husbands were in the war and they didn’t know what happen. I just stood back there and said, ‘just do what you girls do on the switchboard.? It lit all up and I said ‘keep on working, just keep on working.??
After Church retired from ‘Ma Bell,? she picked up another career, managing payroll for seven floors of staff at Detroit’s Kern’s Department Store.
‘I went there, I think, around the Christmas holiday, I just wanted to work part time. I went in the office and Mrs. Jefferson, I remember her name, I asked her about a switchboard position and she said, ‘Oh, our switchboard is filled.? I said ‘Oh, OK, thank you very much? and I went to the elevator,? Church said. ‘She called me back and she said to me ‘Ms. Church, would you take floor service?? I said, ‘I don’t know anything about floor service.? She said ‘oh, we’ll teach you in half a day.? I said ‘Well OK, I’ll try.? So I worked and was giving out pay, the girls had to come to my desk to get their money.?
From Kern’s, Church returned to telephone operator at Sears Department store.
‘I would work today if I could, I love being around people,? she said. ‘I did my work and got compliments, a lot of them.?
Church said she also did a lot of work schedules.
‘Telephone work is different because there, hours have to be just so you can’t work anyone over eight hours, it’s a 24 hour job,? she said. ‘You have to make sure you got time in between, at least 10 hours between schedules for one girl.?
Church also bought her first car in 1939.
‘It was a Ford Coupe,? she said. ‘Women didn’t buy cars back then, so I had to ask the dealership if I was allowed to buy that car.?
The dealership let her and she paid $900 cash.
Church also recalls taking a road trip with four of her girlfriends to Florida. Each girl took turns driving a 100 miles and it took nine days to get there.
‘We wanted to see what Florida was like, but there was nothing there, except a lot of snakes,? she said. ‘We could have bought a house for $500, oh it was awful, but they were building.?
Church noted that there was not Motel’s then and they stayed at peoples houses that had rooms for rent.
She married her husband Bud in 1940 together they maintained an ‘active social life? gathering often with extended family in Sault Ste. Marie on a family farm. Bud died at age 88. Church was a first generation of her family to come to America at Ellis Island in New York from Luxembourg, she traveled on the Lusitania, which was torpedoed on its way back.
She attributes to living a long life by keeping an active mind.
‘My mind was always busy,? she said.
Church continues to cultivate her interests. She enjoys shopping for shoes, clothes, reading, eating, and insisting on keeping her diet healthy. She has also developed a keen interest in politics and proudly voted in the November 2008 presidential election at the age of 99.