{"id":10487,"date":"2020-08-13T19:33:42","date_gmt":"2020-08-14T02:33:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lesliedinaberg.com\/wordpress\/?p=10487"},"modified":"2020-08-13T19:33:42","modified_gmt":"2020-08-14T02:33:42","slug":"aging-with-grace-and-humor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lesliedinaberg.com\/wordpress\/?p=10487","title":{"rendered":"Aging With Grace and Humor"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Aging<\/a>

Aging With Grace and Humor, from Santa Barbara Independent, Active Aging Special Section, July 30, 2020.<\/p><\/div>\n

Etta “Honey” Miller Celebrates 105th Birthday<\/strong><\/p>\n

Even over the phone (an unfortunate pandemic\u00a0restriction), Ettna Miller is full of vim and\u00a0vigor. In early July, she celebrated her 105th\u00a0birthday with a small gathering at Vista del Monte<\/a>,\u00a0where she has resided in her own apartment for\u00a0the past year.<\/p>\n

Her \u201cbaby brother\u201d Dr. Dean Vogel,\u00a0a longtime Santa Barbara resident, also lives there\u00a0and moved \u201cHoney\u201d to the facility after she broke\u00a0her back at home in Indiana.<\/p>\n

When she\u2019s not entertaining her caregivers and\u00a0fellow residents with tales of her storied life, Honey\u00a0receives a variety of rehabilitative therapies through\u00a0VNA Health\u2019s home health-care services. A physical\u00a0therapist, occupational therapist, and case manager\u00a0bring therapies directly to her home, working\u00a0with her to improve her strength through various\u00a0activities and fall-prevention strategies.<\/p>\n

Here are some highlights from a recent chat\u00a0with Honey and her caregiver, Carolina Navarro.\u00a0Their responses have been briefly edited for\u00a0clarity.<\/p>\n

Happy Birthday, Honey. Do you have a favorite birthday\u00a0memory?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ettna \u201cHoney\u201d Miller: My 100th birthday. There were\u00a0well over 100 people at that birthday party. I don\u2019t\u00a0know if I ever greeted all of them or not. Everybody\u00a0was running around with a camera. There were a lot\u00a0of little kids there and everybody wanted to get pictures\u00a0for show-and-tell.<\/p>\n

How was your 105th birthday?<\/strong><\/p>\n

EHM: That was really a lovely affair. My brother Dean\u00a0did the arranging. Of course, we were all quarantined,\u00a0so there were limits. They arranged a new\u00a0area with outdoor seating, and they had beautiful\u00a0umbrellas. They had tables that seat nine, and they\u00a0seated three people per table. We were only allowed\u00a0to have 10 people at the luncheon. It was really\u00a0lovely. We had dinner and we had birthday cake.<\/p>\n

Carolina Navarro: For her 105th birthday, Honey received\u00a0well over 50 birthday cards in the mail. She was still getting\u00a0greeting cards yesterday in the mail.<\/p>\n

EHM: It was amazing, people sent cards that I hadn\u2019t\u00a0talked to for years. People I hadn\u2019t even thought about.\u00a0One lady said she knew a friend of hers that went to\u00a0high school when I did, and so she said that she wanted\u00a0to send a card. I\u2019m amazed at these people, how nice\u00a0that it is to hear from them.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s very special to live to 105. You\u2019ve seen things that most of\u00a0us haven\u2019t.<\/strong><\/p>\n

EHM: I\u2019ve been blessed in so many ways.<\/p>\n

Are you the oldest person you know?<\/strong><\/p>\n

EHM: I don\u2019t know anyone older than me.<\/p>\n

How old is your brother?<\/strong><\/p>\n

EHM: He is 87; let\u2019s see, he was born in 1933. I was\u00a0graduating high school when Dean was born. I\u00a0didn\u2019t even know my mother was pregnant. I said,\u00a0\u201cWell, that\u2019s keeping a girl pretty dumb, isn\u2019t it?\u201d<\/p>\n

Did you have other brothers and sisters?<\/strong><\/p>\n

EHM: There were nine of us, five boys and four girls.\u00a0We had two older sisters that were bit by rattlesnakes\u00a0and one of them died, and the other one, Vera, they\u00a0were able to get her to a doctor and she survived and\u00a0lived to be 90 years old. We lived in a prairie, in the\u00a0rural area of South Dakota, a place called Lemmon\u00a0[current population 1,227].<\/p>\n

Where did you live after Lemmon?<\/strong><\/p>\n

EHM: Well, my father was born in Germany, and he\u00a0came to the United States when he was about 16,\u00a0and his mother wanted to keep him out of the German\u00a0army. Then she wanted him to come over to\u00a0Germany again and learn the cheese manufacturing\u00a0business.<\/p>\n

We only had a three-month visa, so we had\u00a0to come back to the states. We went over in 1926\u00a0and came back in 1926. The big ocean liners were something great back then.<\/p>\n

\"Aging<\/a><\/p>\n

That sounds very exciting.<\/strong><\/p>\n

EHM: There was a shipwreck. Our ship, the Berlin, when we were coming back\u00a0from Germany to the U.S., received an SOS that an English freighter was in\u00a0distress, and we were to return and assist them.<\/p>\n

Turning around in the ocean was fierce. The waves were 30 to 40 feet high,\u00a0and you\u2019d look out the window and you would see them 100 feet up above\u00a0you and then the next instant they were down below you. When our ship\u00a0turned around, the waves were so high they broke down the main door to the\u00a0entrance to our ship, so we had water pouring down our stairways.<\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t go to the cabin like I was supposed to. My dad had his hands full,\u00a0keeping everybody in line. I was behind some drapes in the dining room\u00a0where there was a porthole and I could see out. I watched them put everybody\u00a0they could into a lifeboat and lower it.\u00a0But when they lowered it, the\u00a0ropes broke, and it tipped over\u00a0and dumped them in the ocean.<\/p>\n

They were all drowned because\u00a0there was just no way of getting\u00a0out of that with the high waves\u00a0and the boat falling and everything.\u00a0That crew was lost, but the\u00a0captain stayed with the ship.<\/p>\n

And you witnessed all of this at 10\u00a0years old?<\/strong><\/p>\n

EHM: Yes. I remember that when we\u00a0got back to New York, it was early\u00a0morning when we came by the\u00a0Statue of Liberty, and everybody\u00a0got down and was kissing the deck\u00a0thanking god that we were safe.<\/p>\n

Wow. Can you talk a little bit about\u00a0your typical day now?<\/strong><\/p>\n

EHM: Well, mostly every day is similar. They wake you up fairly early.<\/p>\n

CN: There are a lot of us that come in here to visit, and we want to chat with Honey.\u00a0She has a very close relationship with the Vista del Monte staff.<\/p>\n

How\u2019s your back now?<\/strong><\/p>\n

EHM: I really don\u2019t feel bad or sick. A lot of people have a sickness or a sore place\u00a0that hurts all the time. I\u2019ve never had that in my whole life. I didn\u2019t know what a\u00a0headache was or aspirin until I was old. I just didn\u2019t hurt even when I was in the\u00a0hospital; the only thing that hurt was my tailbone. I couldn\u2019t get a cushion that\u00a0would relieve the pressure on that bone. It still gets sore.<\/p>\n

CN: Honey has always been very active. She likes to swim, and if you see her physically,\u00a0she\u2019s very fit and very light on her feet. When she stands up, she\u2019s very light,\u00a0and she looks like she\u2019s floating.<\/p>\n

EHM: I love to dance, too; I\u2019ve always danced. I took ballroom dancing when I was\u00a0100 years old.<\/p>\n

What are some of your other favorite\u00a0things to do?<\/strong><\/p>\n

EHM: I like to knit and crochet and\u00a0sew. I can make things.<\/p>\n

Can you share some advice for people who want to live a long, active life?<\/strong><\/p>\n

EHM: I think if you take every day as it comes, do what you have to do, and if there\u2019s\u00a0something coming up, try not to put off tomorrow, that would be the best thing I\u00a0could think of. Don\u2019t put off tomorrow what you can do today. Whoever thought\u00a0that up thought up something good.<\/p>\n

Everybody has a story that\u2019s interesting. I can make a story out of almost\u00a0everything. Give me the salt and pepper, and I can make a story out of salt\u00a0and pepper.<\/p>\n

VNA Health: vna.health<\/a> \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0Vista del Monte: vistadelmonte.org<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Active<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Originally published in the Santa Barbara Independent on July 30, 2020. To view the Active Aging Guide to Senior Life, Seen Through a Pandemic Lens, click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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