By Lori EhdeShe doesn’t exercise every morning like she used to, and she gets a little help with housework and meals in her Luverne Centennial apartment.But what she lacks in energy she makes up for in memories. … And at 105, Lil Peterson has accumulated more memories than anyone she knows.She’ll celebrate her 105th birthday Saturday with a private gathering of family and friends at the Centennial Apartments where she lives.Sharing memories will, no doubt, be on the party agenda.She spent the early part of her life before paved roads, automobiles, electricity and running water.It’s no wonder then, that much of her childhood memories are colored by hard work and responsibilities.She remembers as a child rushing home from country school to get the chores done before supper."As fast as we could, we’d get home and change into our old clothes and pick corn cobs from the cattle yard," she said.Other chores involved basic housekeeping, such as cleaning kerosene lamp chimneys and refilling them with fuel.Lil was born on July 26, 1898, to William and Matilda Schneekloth, in a farm house near Muscatine, Iowa, a small town near Davenport.She was No. 5 in a family of four girls and three boys.In 1909, she remembers at 11 years old moving with her family to a Rock County farm just west of Luverne. She finished her schooling at Rock County Dist. 10 schoolhouse, and at 13 years old, took her eighth-grade education into the wide world to find a job.She went to work for Mr. and Mrs. Pete Glazier. In exchange for keeping the house, making the meals and caring for children, she boarded at the Glaziers. That was her payment."I learned a lot about housekeeping there," Peterson said. She baked bread, made meals and cared for children, two of whom were in diapers.Unfortunately, her job there was cut short by an appendicitis attack that sent her home for a long recovery. "Dr. Wright came and picked me up and called my dad when we got to Luverne. Dr. Spaulding took over and said it was broken too long and he couldn’t operate," Peterson said.So she went home with her parents, possibly to die, but after several months, she remarkably returned to health.She met her first husband, Walter Hand, while working with him at Worthmore chicken factory in Worthington.They married in 1926, but much of her married life consisted of caring for Hand, who suffered from "white lead" poisoning, a lung condition brought on by his work as a spray painter. "He didn’t wear the protective face mask," Peterson said.They never had children.Peterson married her second husband Victor Peterson, in 1948, at a community dance.This was appropriate since she had become an accomplished dancer at a young age, thanks to parents who enjoyed the activity."When the folks took us along to barn dances, Dad told us to stay in the corners so we wouldn’t get trampled," she said. "That’s how I learned to dance."When asked how she came to be 105, Peterson said simply, "Don’t smoke and don’t lay in bed in the morning. Get up and enjoy the day."In addition to morning exercises, Peterson said she takes a Vitamin E pill daily.Peterson said she’s content with where her life has taken her. "Right now I’m at the point where I’m ready to go, but I guess the Lord doesn’t want me yet," she said.The public isn’t invited to Saturday’s party, but cards can be sent to Peterson at 120 N. Spring, Apt. 409, Luverne, MN 56156.
