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Little things in life add up for McCook woman, who will turn 100 years old
LORRI SUGHROUE
McCook Daily Gazette
McCOOK, Nebraska -- McCook still had dirt streets and horses were used for threshing, when Ada Remington first moved here in 1919.
Remington was only six when she and her family moved from Minden, Nebraska, to a farm four miles north of McCook but on March 4, she'll enter the age of triple digits with her 100th birthday, surprising even herself.
"I didn't think I would make it to 100, I still don't believe it," she recently said in her kitchen.
Whether it's lifestyle or genetics, making it to the century mark could also include plenty of hard work, if based on Remington's life.
"We didn't do a lot for pleasure, we were too busy," she recalls. "People ask me if I remember a certain singer, but we didn't have time for that."
She may not remember the popular singers of yesteryear, but she does remember the dust storms and drought during the "Dirty Thirties," when the heat and repeated crop failures took its toll.
There was no irrigation in those days and she remembers her dad being "downhearted," pacing outside the house visibly upset.
"We could see him, he had his head down, talking to himself," Remington recalled.
And forget about air conditioned combines: she remembers the unrelenting heat was especially hard while harvesting wheat, when the horses that pulled the binders would have to rest during the heat of the day and start back up again when it cooled down.
Farm kids didn't have a lot of time to play, Remington said, even with six kids in the family, but every now and then on Sundays, her dad would load everyone up and go to town, for concerts at Norris Park. It was those little things that meant the most, she said, like the Sunday concerts or the time her aunt brought the family oranges, a rare luxury, when everyone was sick with the flu.
After graduating from McCook High School in 1930, she worked at Montgomery Wards. After marrying her husband, Elijah Berdoin (known as E.B.), company policy prevented two people from the same family working at the store, so she quit.
E.B. started the Remington Insurance Agency and when he died in 1965, Ada took over the business.
Her sister, Phyllis Marsh and brother-in-law, Carl, also had an insurance company in town, Marsh Insurance. Clients from both companies would sometimes confuse the two sisters if they bumped into them while shopping, making payments to the one that was meant for the other.
In 1983, at the age of 70, Ada sold her insurance agency to her brother-in-law.
Nowadays, her hearing and sight give her a little trouble, but with the help of caregivers, Remington is still able to live in the Victorian home built in the 1800s, where she and her husband raised their two kids.
And in an ironic twist of time, those little things that meant so much to her as a child can still be appreciated: a clear view of Norris Park can be seen through her kitchen windows, the site of those beloved Sunday afternoon concerts.