Teaching us how to live our best lives

Last week, I had the pleasure of talking with one of the most interesting women I know. Betty Stone is celebrating a milestone birthday today, although she started the celebration early over the weekend with her family and friends and a homemade Texas chocolate sheet cake, her favorite.

In the course of my conversation with the former first lady of Coeur d’Alene, we talked about a vast array of topics from current events to technology to the olden days and just a wee bit of gossip. When Betty was born in 1923 in the small town of Winchester, Idaho, Calvin Coolidge was president and her family didn’t have indoor plumbing. She learned to drive during the Depression era at age 16. When I asked if she was still driving, she said no; at age 98, she couldn’t pass the driver’s test. But she still has her car and 82 years of being a licensed driver!

During WWII, Betty was a welder in the Portland shipyards with her income paying for her college education. She earned an English degree at the University of Idaho. Back then she said there were only three things a woman could become ... a nurse, a teacher or a stenographer. She married her high school sweetheart, Ray Stone, in 1944 and they moved to Coeur d’Alene in 1955.   

He taught at Coeur d’Alene High School and the school district had a rule that married couples couldn’t teach at the same time. She waited until Ray went on to teach at North Idaho Junior College before becoming a sophomore English teacher at CHS. It was at CHS in the 1960s that I first met Betty, aka Mrs. Stone.

At 56, Betty retired early after a 30-year career in teaching and as a counselor in Coeur d’Alene. She said she had three goals upon retiring ... to sell real estate, visit Hawaii and write a novel. She checked the first two off the list but she realized she had no idea how to write a novel. I laughed and said that I was several chapters into writing a book and it’s been fits and starts. I promised that when I complete the draft I’ll have her give it a read. Then she laughed and said, “You’d better hurry!”

We share a love of books, reading and libraries. Betty makes a weekly list of books and her friend, Kathy, takes her to pick them up from the Coeur d’Alene Public Library. She praised the library staff for their kindness and friendship on her weekly visits. 

At a century young Betty has a new computer, a Kindle, a Facebook account and uses email. She loves to play Wordle and was on her 40th consecutive day, observing that she’s been surprised how few five-letter words there are in the English language.

When I marveled at the fact that she’s active on social media and knows her way around a computer she gushed, “I love Amazon!” The girl who grew up without indoor plumbing is in awe that you can order something online and it shows up at your door the next day. So am I, Betty, so am I.

Betty has outlived her only child, Daniel, and her husband of 54 years, Ray. When I asked what it’s like to be 100 she said she’d never planned to live this long but she certainly has seen just about everything. She lives independently at Lake Tower Apartments downtown, her home since 2008. She told me that her husband, who was a former Coeur d’Alene mayor, and my late father, Ron Rankin, talked often. Maybe they weren’t polar opposites politically but close. And yet they found common ground and mutual respect in community and civic matters. Wouldn’t that be nice if it could be that way today, she mused.

There are no secrets to share about her longevity, although she does enjoy a big breakfast daily. Betty Stone hasn’t just lived many more years than most, she’s made a difference in countless young lives, given of herself and continues to have a curiosity about the world around her. Her outlook is outward and positive.

There’s a lesson we can all learn.

• • •

Happy birthday today to Betty Stone (100!), Pat Krug, Andre Ney, Blythe Templin, Jonna Harris-Bowman, Sheila McDaniel, Curtis Ormesher and Peggy Fairfield. Tomorrow, Gerry Wilson, Jason Allred, Anna Goodwin, Brad Dugdale, Chris Mueller, Pat Stroud, Rebecca Priano, Glenn Gatherer, Ryan Edmonds, John Cross, Branson McAlister and Lisa Johnson enjoy April 18 birthdays. On Friday, Gerlinde Hamilton, Rich Piazza, Angie Hannon, Rick Seymour, Petrina Spellman, Carolyn Beard, our son-in-law, Rick Gonzalez, Steve Adams, Charlie Staples, BreAnna Brunton and Joe Bodman blow out the candles. Hayden Hustoft, Rowan Bauman, Maritom Pickett, Sherry Mundt, Jerome Pollos, Scott Hough, Bill Hilbish, Sarah Gondo, Marcia Jimenez, Laura Warner (60!), Sarah Myers, Blaise Koep and John M. Smith take another trip around the sun on Saturday. On Sunday, Gunnar Amos, Brent Hostetler, Sandy Langston, Ali Taylor, Larry Bird and Janet Johnson will celebrate. On Monday, Shirley Grimmett, Ron Strobel, Jeannette Peacock, Cliff Standridge, Mark Nelke, Jim Barrett, Curtis Gregory, Dave Nordby, George Greenfield and Corey Beaver mark the day of their birth. April 23 birthdays belong to Shelly Enderud, Blair Williams, Troy Speziale, Malika Mills, Kevin Bennett, Charlotte Brown, Tracey Singer, Kathleen Schmidt and Tracy Williams.

• • •

Kerri Rankin Thoreson is a member of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists and the former publisher of the Post Falls Tribune. Main Street appears every Wednesday in The Press and Kerri can be contacted on Facebook or via email mainstreet@cdapress.com. Follow her on Twitter @kerrithoreson.