By Jolene FarleyTuff Village resident Marie Hensch will celebrate "alotta living" this week. Hensch turned 100 years old on Wednesday, July 16."It’s kind of scary in a way," she said. "I can’t do a lot of things I used to do." Hensch never expected to reach 100-years-old. "Well, people just don’t get that old," she said.But both of Hensch’s parents lived into their 80s, a good age for their generation, so longevity does run in the family, Hensch said. The main lesson Hensch learned in her life was "that things usually work out in the end.""Worrying doesn’t help," she said. "I just took the days as they came."Hensch lived in Iowa until after retirement. She was born in Lyon County, Iowa, and taught school for 15 years before marrying farmer Walter Hensch.The couple farmed near Hartley, Iowa, for two years before moving to the Boyden, Iowa, area.Hensch clearly remembers her days as a rural school teacher in Iowa. She treasures the relationships she built during that time. She taught every grade all subjects and was also required to do the janitorial work at the school. Her first year, she was paid $95 a month. Her second year the depression was in full swing and her wages were reduced to $47 a month.By the end of her 15-year career as a teacher, she earned $650 a year."We had little other help, and not many supplies," she said.The school supplied chalk, erasers and a sawdust mixture to keep the dust down in the school. "If you wanted other supplies, you went to the store and got them out of your own pocket," she said. The school would sponsor fund-raisers to cover school supplies and playground equipment. Hensch said it was frowned on for married women to teach school. A board likely wouldn’t hire a married woman unless it was desperate to fill the position."The reasoning was that you could only do one thing," she said. "By the time you kept your house clean and did canning and gardening, your time was pretty much taken.". Hensch won’t say if she thinks women have it better or worse these days. "Housework is certainly easier than it used to be," she said. Hensch has two daughters, Ardith Tofteland, Luverne, and Ruth Auckland, Des Moines, Washington, and three grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
