Kathleen Moseley was born to vote

Her 100th birthday marks the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment

COEUR d’ALENE —Kathleen Moseley was born Aug. 18, 1920.

That date is also when the 19th Amendment giving women the right to vote was ratified.

Both will turn 100 together, today.

“It means a lot,” she said while sitting in the yard of her Sanders Beach home joined by son David Moseley and his wife, Jan. “I think it’s very important to vote. I would advise everybody to vote their conscience.”

When she turned 18, Moseley began voting. She’s been at it ever since.

“I was quite happy to go vote,” she said. “Well, I was pretty much a Democrat because my parents were Democrat.”

She cast her ballot when elections came around, when candidates were debating issues, when referendums and tax proposals came up. She paid attention to what was at stake. She knew the results could change the world as she knew it.

“I always made it a point to vote. My husband did too. We went to the polls together and probably canceled each other out,” she added, smiling.

Moseley, soft-spoken, remains physically healthy and mentally sharp, which she attributes to reading and good genes.

“My mother lived to be 91 and my aunt, her sister, was 98,” she said.

Born in Tacoma, Wash., Moseley was a toddler when the family moved to Oakland and settled in the Montclair area. She walked a mile to school.

During World War II, she was a First Lieutenant in the Army Nurse Corps and served two years in Anchorage, Alaska.

Kathleen also worked for Kootenai County’s elections department for some 15 to 20 years. Her job was “to see that the polling place worked well.”

Under her watch, it did. There were no controversies. No disputed ballots. No conspiracy theories about rigged elections.

“We always got along fine and came out right,” she said.

She doesn’t believe that mail-in ballots can be more easily manipulated than in-person voting to favor one candidate.

“I think that’s a red herring. I’m all for voting by mail-in ballots,” Kathleen Moseley said.

She and Don were married 35 years and had three children, Charles, David and Donna. Her husband was a firm Republican, but they didn’t argue politics at the dinner table.

Unlike much of what goes on today, they were courteous and respectful, and remained friends with people who had different political views. They didn’t get angry. They didn’t cast insults. They talked, they listened, and wished each other well.

“We just voted our conscience,” Moseley said.

David said his dad did give him his first advice on presidential candidates that influences him to this day.

“He told me I should vote for Tricky Dick (Richard Nixon) and that was one of the biggest mistakes I ever made,” he said, laughing. “I’ve been a Democrat ever since.”

His mom, though, kept her thoughts to herself and instead, expressed them at the polls.

“I don’t think she ever felt the need to ever share her view of things,” David Moseley said.

Jan Moseley nodded in agreement.

“I think she role modeled it. She did always vote,” Jan Moseley said, adding Kathleen spoke of the importance of the League of Women Voters.

Kathleen Moseley said she’ll be voting this year and plans to give her support to Democrat Joe Biden.

“I think he’ll be a good president,” she said.

She keeps up on what’s happening around the nation. The political fighting that only seems to grow worse each year makes her shake her head in disappointment.

But she has not lost hope for better days.

“Boy, there’s an awful lot of bad stuff going on, but in the end, I think it will all work out,” she said.