THE ONES WHO DARED
THE ONES WHO DARED PODCAST Elevating stories of courage. You can listen to some of the most interesting stories of courage, powerful life lessons, and aha moments. Featuring interviews with leaders, pioneers and people who have done hard things. I hope these stories help pave the path for you to live out your courageous life.
THE ONES WHO DARED
Wisdom at 101: A Century of Living Well
Betty Baker, a 101-year-old, shares her joyful journey through life, engaging in activities like crossword puzzles, reading, and painting despite physical limitations. Key points include:
- Approaching 102, she remains mentally sharp and active.
- Everyday she pushes herself to stay engaged rather than sedentary.
- A 63-year marriage highlighted the importance of shared values.
- Caring for her husband with Alzheimer's
- Her experience of living through WWII
- How her faith contributed during difficult times
- Her take on diet, and lifestyle for longevity
- A century of change has shaped her perspective on life's priorities.
- She emphasizes staying positive by focusing on abilities rather than limitations
-Links-
https://www.svetkapopov.com/
https://www.instagram.com/svetka_popov/
What would you say is the hardest thing, being your age?
Speaker 2:In my mind I'm still the same person that I always was, but I can't do what I always did. That's the hard part.
Speaker 1:Hey friends, welcome to the Ones who Dared podcast, where stories of courage are elevated. I'm your host, becca, and every other week you'll hear interviews from inspiring people. My hope is that you will leave encouraged. I'm so glad you're here, betty Baker. Welcome to the Once a Dear podcast. I am so thrilled to have you in the studio today. Thank you, and before we get started with all the questions and I had readers even submit questions they wanted to ask you the question that I have for you is who is Betty? Tell us about you. Who are you? Who is Betty Baker?
Speaker 2:us about you. Who are you? Who is Betty Baker? Well, I try to be the same person I always have been. I was an only child, so you know, and I like to be alone. Lavon knows that I live down there and by myself most of the time, but LaVon visits me and other people, so that's nice, it's nice, mm-hmm. So other than that, I don't know who I am. I know I'm 101 and past, and in June I'll be 102.
Speaker 1:Wow, that's incredible. How does it feel to be your age?
Speaker 2:It's okay. You know, the one problem I have is I don't sleep well some nights. If I sleep well, then I can do things in the daytime which I like to do. I like to do things, I don't like to just sit all the time.
Speaker 1:And what are some things that you enjoy doing? Well, I do crosswords.
Speaker 2:I read the newspaper, I read books and lately I've been for a long time I've done painting by number. That's not very expressive in a way, but I love to do it. Yeah, that's wonderful, and I've done a lot of them. We have them all up around my room.
Speaker 1:What are some other things that you're currently enjoying in this phase of life, these days, that's?
Speaker 2:about all I can do. I go out once a week LeVon takes me out if I can, if I'm able, and I love to watch TV at night, especially when it's dark.
Speaker 1:And so I heard you're not an early riser, right? Not what? Not an early riser? You don't love to get up super early, no Morning's my time to rest. Yeah, and has that always been that way for you? No, morning's my time to rest. Yeah, and has that always been that way for you? No, it's just now.
Speaker 2:Evening I'm better. I can stay up till 11 o'clock, which is unusual for somebody my age, I guess.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely. So you are almost 102 and people are curious to. What do you feel like contributed to your longevity?
Speaker 2:Well, I enjoy things, I enjoy life, and I don't want to die. I don't think anybody does, but if I think this is my last day, that's okay.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, you have to, that's okay, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you have to think that way. Now, think ahead Mm-hmm and plan to do things that you like to do. Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1:So if I was your granddaughter sitting here today, what were some things you'd want to tell me or some advice you'd have for me as another woman?
Speaker 2:Well, enjoy your life. That's been one of my mottos for years and years. I always used to tell them that, when they leave the house or something, enjoy your life, because you can't think of bad things or evil things or be depressed. If you can look up and be happy and enjoy it, then it's worthwhile. And I always of course I wouldn't tell them this every day, but I always want them to follow the Lord and be a Christian, because I've been that all my life and I'm concerned about them.
Speaker 1:Being 101, almost 102, you must have experienced a lot of ups and downs in life, right, the joys and the trials, the hardships and the when life is easier at certain seasons. When life is easier at certain seasons, how have you stayed consistent, or what has been the reason why you're still here and you're consistent in just continuing on?
Speaker 2:Well, it's hard to answer it, because what was the first part? How, how?
Speaker 1:much With with the life, with the life, life's, the ups and downs of life. How have you stayed consistent in just wanting to continue on? Because you know there's just so many things in life, with the and going through all the different eras. You live through world war two, you live through all these different political unrests and so much that has happened in the world in the last hundred years. So how do you stay positive? How do you stay hopeful? At the Once For A Year podcast, giving back is part of our mission, which is why we proudly sponsor Midwest Food Bank. Here's why Midwest Food Bank Pennsylvania distributes over $25 million worth of food annually, completely free of charge, to over 200 nonprofit partners across PA, new York and New Jersey, reaching more than 330,000 people in need. Through their volunteer-driven model and innovative food rescue programs, they turn every single dollar donated into $30 worth of food. Now, that's amazing. Join us in supporting this cause. To learn more or to give, go to MidwestFoodBankorg slash Pennsylvania.
Speaker 2:Well, I think it's because I really love to live. I love life and I always wanted to be happy life and I always wanted to be happy. And so then I try to be and I push myself a lot now, especially because I could just sit down and not move all day at my age. But I want to get up and I want to do things. It's just a goal I have, I guess. I don't know Otherwise what to say about it.
Speaker 1:And when you say that you try to be happy, how do you, what do you do to make yourself happy, Like, how do you? You say that I enjoy life. How do you enjoy life? Or what are some?
Speaker 2:ways that you try to. Well, there are a lot of things that can make you unhappy. Especially, I've had arthritis. I've had different things happen to my health, not so severe that I didn't get over it, because now I'm better than I ever was, but I don't know. I just don't know how to answer it.
Speaker 1:Do you feel like that you were naturally more optimistic as a person?
Speaker 2:Sometimes I haven't been. Like I said, I was an only child and that's hard. You know, I always wanted brothers or sisters. I had to do a lot of things just by myself and I got an adopted brother finally. And a girl came I think you read this but came to live with us about my age. So that was nice. We went to college together. But there were times when you're not happy because the circumstances around you, you know, might be your family. I had a wonderful mother and she was always great and always there for me, so I don't know. Then, of course, with my husband, I got pretty depressed about him because he had the Alzheimer's for 10 years, but I was determined to have him with me as long as I could and I did, and that made me feel good, you know, happy about that. I didn't want him going to a nursing home unless I just couldn't handle him anymore.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and that was pretty brave of you to want to do that, I know.
Speaker 2:I'm not the type of person to take care of sick people, but he was always up and going. He was pretty well physically, so it wasn't so hard that way. Mentally it was hard because he was so smart and he was, you know, like that kind of person.
Speaker 1:But gradually it just goes away the memory, and what was the hardest part about that season for you?
Speaker 2:Well, seeing your husband, your loved one, change. So you know you couldn't hardly believe it, but you had to believe it because it was right there. You would ask questions over and over and it got a little hard. I would walk out lots of times because I couldn't out of the room or outside because I couldn't stand anymore for a little while. But I got through it all and I know I did it with the help of God. He is the head of my life.
Speaker 1:And you're here. What I said? And you're here. Yes, yes, yeah. Looking back at your life, what do you feel? Like you?
Speaker 2:would have done differently, or you would do differently now. The one thing I wish I had done was take a different major. In college, I taught school for a little while and that's what I wanted to do ever since I was a little girl. I loved school, but it did not work out. But the situation was very bad. I had to travel an hour. We didn't get much money back then and I couldn't afford to stay in the area because I was living with another person. It was quite a cheap apartment, but that, if I could have done something else, I did later. I worked for my uncle in his office and I liked that. I was alone. Because I'm an introvert. I came to that conclusion. I'm not an outgoing person, but my husband was. We were opposites, so that worked out very well too.
Speaker 1:Is there any other regrets that you have Any other big regrets?
Speaker 2:Well, I really couldn't think of any when I read that question. You know, I can't think of any. I don't know question.
Speaker 1:You know I can't think of any, I don't know. You feel like you're satisfied with the choices you made and the life that you lived for the most part.
Speaker 2:Yes, sometimes, you know, when your children get to be teenagers and older, you feel like why didn't I do better? Couldn't I have done a lot better to keep them living a better life and not doing some of the things that bothered us both of us. So I had four children and I had the three girls and then a boy. And that was hard. And I was older I was 45 years old when I had my son. That was unusual too, yeah, and it was hard to change from those girls to him because they are different, bringing them up and everything about them.
Speaker 1:They are different, bringing them up and everything about them, and so when?
Speaker 2:that teenage phase ended, did you feel like you stopped beating yourself up as a mom? You have to. You have to just live your own life and be happy in your own self. It's hard, but you come to that conclusion. They have to live their own life, they have to go, let them go. And you do your best to help them. Even yet, you don't give them up on them. They always loved to come home, and that was good and we enjoyed it.
Speaker 1:I've heard parents say that if my kids are not happy when they're adults, right, then I can't be happy when my kids are having problems. It's like my problem. What do you say to someone who thinks like that?
Speaker 2:Well, you have to just wait a while, I guess, and try to get above it. I always prayed a lot. Of course my husband was a minister I don't know, I guess you knew that and sometimes I didn't have much time. I was, sometimes I didn't have much time. But the one minister we had when I was young said to us young people you read that Bible every day and pray to God every day. If it's just a few minutes, do it. And I know that that has carried me through. I've done it. I wouldn't say every day, you skip once in a while when you're busy, but I think being like that and really concentrating on it it helps, because after you read it, you think about it, you can think about it all day. The verses, they can stay with you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and so when the world felt really hard for you, when life was really hard, yes, was that how you kept your peace Definitely?
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's the one thing that made me strong. Yeah, and I was like I say was I like to be by myself lots of times, but you always know that god's there with you, taking care of you. He is, and you have to depend on him. You can't be by yourself without him, I mean, you can't succeed, you can't carry on. That's my idea, anyway, and I think it should be everybody's.
Speaker 1:What is one message you would love to pass on to the listener?
Speaker 2:Keep looking forward. You can't look back all the time. I do a lot now because I'm at the end of my life and I think about the things that have happened and how I succeeded, got through them. It was like it's just a journey and you take it. You try to take it one day at a time, but you can't. You think of the past, you think of the future, you think of tomorrow, but don't dwell on it. You have to take one day at a time and be happy. You're here.
Speaker 1:Has that always been your philosophy?
Speaker 2:Pretty much yeah, when I was a little girl, I just loved. I loved to be outdoors, I loved everything, I loved people, I loved my family. And that is the one word that you can if you love, if you love others, if you love God, you love yourself too.
Speaker 1:And do you love yourself, Betty? I guess that's a hard thing to say, to say out loud, right, that I love myself.
Speaker 2:It doesn't make much sense to say I love myself, but I love my life. Like you say, there's a lot of downs. You can't live life without them and they will come and they'll go and that's what you have to. I'll get through this After a while. You know that you will.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and so some people have a hard time liking who they are or loving themselves. Have you always felt content with who you are and liking who you are, or was that a process for you?
Speaker 2:Well, I don't think I was always content about myself. I wish lots of times to be different, maybe where I'm going. Sometimes, when my husband and I are supposed to go to a gathering or dinner, I say I don't know those people, I don't want to go to a gathering or dinner. I'd say I don't know those people, I don't want to go. And he would say, well, how are you going to get to know them? Or if I didn't want to go to the doctor or the dentist you know you hesitate and I don't want to go I'd say, well, be glad you have a doctor, be glad you have a dentist, be glad you have a dentist, be glad you can go. And that helped me and inspired me, and I still think of it these days.
Speaker 2:He was an outgoing person like that. He loved people, he could talk, just like my daughter. And I was just the opposite, although I got a lot better as time went by. When I was small, sometimes when anybody came to our door, I would run upstairs because I didn't know who it was and I didn't want to see who it was. But I got over that. You know, eventually I think it was because I was an only child. I'm not sure though, it was just my nature.
Speaker 1:What in the world has changed the most since you were a child?
Speaker 2:Oh, my goodness, we didn't have TV, of course, when I was young. We had radio. We didn't have cell phones. We had radio, we didn't have cell phones. We, just we were. We lived a different kind of life completely. When you think about it now, every place you look, people are on these phones. I go to the store and I think somebody's talking to me and I look around and oh, they're on their phone and, of course, having TV. I love TV, I love game shows, but you know it takes a lot of time. You should be doing something else, maybe, if you can. I can't now, at night I have to do that. My eyes aren't as good for reading as at night and I think it's good. But I think there are a lot of things that we could need to go back to, but maybe that would never happen, I'm sure.
Speaker 2:And what are some things that you wish we can go back to? Well, I think they're working on it and the media, you know, and other people, other places, the news, and all trying to get people to be more active. The children go outside, get more exercise, and they're trying to get the children to leave their phones at home, which is good in some ways. And yet what if they need their parent? You know you think of that too. They're really a great thing to have, and they should be more watchful about what their children are doing and how they bring them up more, give them more time. I think that's one thing. Parents just go to work, let their children bring up themselves. A lot of them these days, and it wasn't like that back when I was little or younger, right, I don't know.
Speaker 1:What do you miss about the world the most? Back then?
Speaker 2:Well, I don't know, I don't. I miss people being more caring about others. They're too selfish. A lot of people, not everybody, but so many. And it's just this rush, rush, rush. You see the TV, you know, or even when you're out, cars everywhere just going as fast as they can go. And it wasn't like that back then. They had speed limits for as high as they are now. But it's like it has to be that way now, because everything has just sort of grown up. We might say in a different way.
Speaker 1:So you feel like the world was at a slower pace before I think so.
Speaker 2:At least in my life it was. It's hard to keep up with everything now that's going on, did you?
Speaker 1:have a favorite era.
Speaker 2:I think living with my husband was the one that would be the best, because before that you don't know if you're going to get married. You don't know. You're always that question is in your mind Am I going to live alone the rest of my life or am I going to find somebody? That's you know. I was very fussy. I hardly ever liked any guys. They just weren't. I wouldn't even consider them because it wasn't my choice at all.
Speaker 1:So you enjoyed being married, that season of your life when you were with your husband.
Speaker 2:Yeah, 63 years we were married. Wow, that's incredible. It was very good, we got along well.
Speaker 1:What were your tips, or what are your tips for a good marriage?
Speaker 2:Well, it's a hard one.
Speaker 1:Or what worked for you guys personally, Like, what do you feel worked for your marriage that Well?
Speaker 2:I left him half. I mean, he had certain things. He took care of the money part. We had a budget. He was a very great person for a budget and I just left him do that all our life. But then when he got Alzheimer's, I had to take over. That was a little difficult because I didn't know what was going on. That was a little difficult because I didn't know what was going on. But he always gave me money for the household. You know, we always agreed on money. Maybe it was because we didn't have too much, because our churches weren't huge and he had to work part-time sometimes in some of our churches and he was a good worker. He was always.
Speaker 2:I remember him preaching don't give people a half day of work when you're supposed to do a whole day. You know, give your best of everything you do, working, whatever it is, and I appreciated that and I think everybody else needed that. I don't know. We just got along and it's hard to say why. Yeah, I always feel so terrible about so many divorces these days and so many people women having to take care of their children by themselves, and mostly I feel bad for the children. The adults can adjust, they can somehow get through it. But children are not going to forget that kind of a life and it's sad for them these days.
Speaker 1:Yeah, what was your childhood like?
Speaker 2:Well, it was pretty normal. I always loved to be outside playing with my friends and I had a pretend friend when I was by myself, just like a lot of kids do. That maybe, I don't know. And my mom and dad got along pretty well for a long time but later, like they didn't so much, it wasn't bad, you know, it wasn't any fighting much or anything like that or any too many arguments or anything. But my dad, he liked to go out nights, so we were alone a lot. He liked to go out nights, so we were alone a lot, but he was a good worker, a great worker.
Speaker 1:He always worked steady, provided for us. At this point in your life, what matters the most to you? What? What matters the most to you? What? What matters the most.
Speaker 2:Well for me. I mean the way I am now. I don't go out, I can't walk by myself, I can't do much of anything. I spend a lot of time in prayer. I pray for over 50 people a day all their names. I have 19 great-grandchildren. Wow, I had nine grandchildren. I was very sad when my one grandson died of drugs. He was 20, in his 20s and he had gotten off a lot. But I guess they always go back to that or maybe not completely, but he did. And my daughter, my older daughter, she had dementia too last year of her life it's a sad thing when she worked 40 years in insurance. She loved to work, she had two children, but she made it through like that and after she retired then she got dementia. She never had any kind of a retirement, much that was sad?
Speaker 1:What delights you, what brings you joy?
Speaker 2:Well, I like to eat. I guess most people do. My daughter is very great at bringing me some food and shopping for me. I still get my own lunch and breakfast and she gives me the other dinner meal. I like to go outside. In the summer, you know, I can walk a little bit around. I love the good weather.
Speaker 1:I like to read how were you impacted by World War II?
Speaker 2:Well, a lot of the kids that I went to school with it was high school. I was in high school then A lot of them died or were injured. They had to go to war and even when I went to college there weren't very many guys there. They were off to war and we had a lot of hard times getting gas. You had to have tickets to get anything. You know, they were rationed Some foods. It was a hard time. I think, when I think back, it was one of the worst times in my life, in our life when that happened, Just that, terrible bombs that were put off Terrible, Terrible time in my life and other people at that age. People picked up the reins and went on. Mm-hmm.
Speaker 2:That's what we had to do.
Speaker 1:What was the hardest part about that period for you? What was the hardest?
Speaker 2:part about that period for you, well being in high school, I mean, we talked a lot about it in our classes. We knew what was going on and my dad, I think he, didn't have a job for a while and we had to depend on some things from the government. A lot of people did People. There were bread lines, you might call it, for people to have food, but it didn't get as bad, of course, because it was the United States. You know, it wasn't, they weren't over here, it was overseas, and so people just worked.
Speaker 2:I worked in these factories and other people too had to work and try to get through it. I sewed in factories. You did, yes, two different ones when they made men's army pants, and mostly in the suburbs. You know, when I was free to do it and parachute lines I sewed, and that was scary. What if I don't do these right?
Speaker 1:Yeah, did you feel pretty patriotic and proud of yourself for contributing to the cause?
Speaker 2:Yes, you did. It felt like you're helping do something we had. That was right in our hometown where we had these factories and our we weren't such a big you know city or anything, it was just a normal town, but they had those two factories.
Speaker 1:I remember Everybody worked, had to and in that time do you feel like the war brought people together Like there was more unity in America because of the war, definitely.
Speaker 2:Because everybody was. We were all in the same boat. It was there, it wasn't with us, it was overseas, but it was part of us because our family, our boys went, our young people and the rest of us had to dig in and work. So it was like that it got together, felt together more.
Speaker 1:Who have been your greatest influences, people who influenced you the most, maybe people you knew in person or people you read about.
Speaker 2:I always loved to read. When I was young in high school especially, I had to, and some of those books were good back then. I can't even hardly remember the authors now, but they were good and some of my pastors especially. In the teenage years they were very helpful. Teenagers years they were very helpful.
Speaker 1:We would get together for meetings and for just for young people. That was good. What would you say is the hardest thing, being your age?
Speaker 2:In my mind I'm still the same person that I always was, but I can't do what I always did. That's the hard part. I'll go tell LeBron, sometimes, my daughter, I wish I could. I just want to do it. At the end of the day I didn't do what I wanted to do, I couldn't accomplish it, and that upsets me because I just always wanted to do things. So I have to sit there and paint my numbers and crosswords and read, but it satisfies some that does. And I get phone calls from.
Speaker 2:I have a daughter who lives in Syracuse and my son lives near Scranton, so they call me sometimes and that's nice. I guess my grandson's coming Saturday to see me. He lives not too far away from here. He's my oldest grandson and he and his son are going to come and that's nice to see people that your family. The one thing that bothers me a lot is so many people that I've known through my life. They're gone and you know I just even my husband's sister and brother just passed away in the last few months and they weren't as old as I am. So it's hard, but I'm still glad I'm alive and I enjoy life. I enjoy doing things.
Speaker 1:And how old do you feel inside?
Speaker 2:Well, some days I do feel 100. And other days I have more pep and I feel more lively. But I see people on TV that they put on there. Maybe they're 90 years old, some famous people. They're getting older or they have just passed away. You know famous people. They're getting older or they have just passed away. And I think, oh my goodness, that person's 90 years old. I didn't realize they would be that old. You know people that you've heard about all your life. And then I sit there and think, well, I'm 100. How can I be older than them? It's just impossible. That's how sometimes I be older than them. It's just impossible. That's how sometimes I feel. And then other times I don't feel. So peppy, I don't care if I talk very much or do anything, but I take a little nap every afternoon.
Speaker 1:It helps me through what is the bravest thing that Betty has done?
Speaker 2:I haven't done anything.
Speaker 2:That's how I feel. I mean you just wish you could accomplish a lot more than you ever did. The greatest thing was I had raised my four children, I guess, and I tried to be a good wife to my husband. I always cooked meals. That's one thing he used to tell people when he was older, even when he had Alzheimer's. My wife, she, always cooked some good meals and it made him happy and I cooked meals that he liked all the time. I knew what he liked and especially when he got older that was a sad part of my life was that 10 years he had that and it was something you just couldn't even imagine you had to go through. But I got through it and I'm still here alive.
Speaker 1:What are some brave things you wish you would have done?
Speaker 2:Oh well, I don't know what else I could have done. I tried to be a—I did a lot of things in the church. I taught Sunday school class. I played the piano for services lots of times. I tried to do everything. I was asked I would be on committees and into the women's group and whatever. I don't know if there's anything that I. I just wish I could have been a greater mother to my family. How so? I tried. I always wanted to be a good mother and I tried. So I don't know if I have any regrets. I just tried all my life to do what I should and what I wanted to accomplish.
Speaker 1:And you said you wish you would have been a better mother. How so.
Speaker 2:At the time I thought I was doing everything right and doing my best and doing my best. But when you think back then, I think I didn't work out and I stayed home most of the time when they were young. When I got to Larry we were later in life, that was a little harder and he was different, being a boy, from the girls. So I just sort of you just sort of drift along a little bit more because you're too tired to do what you should.
Speaker 1:Yes, I mean, as most parents, the youngest kid is. You know you're more relaxed, right? All of us are yeah.
Speaker 2:But they all turned out pretty well.
Speaker 1:What are three books that were transformative for you, or three books that were pivotal for your life? I did think about.
Speaker 2:Since I moved here to this area I got interested in the Amish. So LaVaughn had a lot of Amish books and so she would give them to me and I read them and I just loved them. I don't read any more now because once you get through three or four you know you're done, but I just loved them and it sort of helped me to think how great we have it using all the things that we use, that they don't Cars. I mean, they ride in them but they don't drive them. It's impossible. I feel sorry in a way for their young people and their children, but yet they're either happy or they leave. So I guess that's why I came to that conclusion.
Speaker 1:Betty, what is the best advice that someone gave you? I'm incredibly selective about the supplements I choose for me and my family, and Soursop Nutrition Gummies by BeMe Beyond Medicine have become a family favorite. Not only are they packed with incredible benefits, but they're so delicious that everyone in my family enjoys them. Incredible benefits, but they're so delicious that everyone in my family enjoys them. Introducing Soursop Cell Plus Immunity Gummies the first ever physician-backed Soursop supplements in the US, Expertly formulated with Soursop, elderberry and echinacea, designed to enhance your well-being, Experience the benefits of soothing inflammation, balancing blood sugars, relieving stress and anxiety and strengthening your immune system. Use my code, Svetka, that's S-V-E-T-K-A on SoursupNutritioncom and get 5% off today. I had good teachers.
Speaker 2:When I was young, people wonder why I write so well. I still can write pretty nicely, even though everybody says that they see my writing. It was because they stood there and watched you and paid attention and pushed you, and they were that kind of people, and I think that we do need more of that in schools, for teachers to be more attentive to children. I don't know I don't hear much about children in school anymore, of course, but I just wonder about some of them.
Speaker 1:Is there anything that I have not asked you that you'd like to share with the listener?
Speaker 2:Well, I don't think of anything really. You've done pretty well, I just. I mean, I have a good memory. That's one thing I'm thankful for. Thankful for because most people at this age they can't remember or they have dementia, and I just thank the Lord every day for that, and also that I can see and I can hear, although sometimes I don't hear very well maybe. But you know, be thankful too, that's a big thing in your life. You have to be thankful for what you have. I've lived 50 years with only one eye to see out of, but I'm thankful that I can see out of one eye. I'm thankful that I got help for it, even a few years ago with the injections they give you modern things that they do. We just never dreamed that they could do anything like that. That would help you in your vision, and there's a lot of good doctors that help people. I've had a lot of arthritis through the years Bursitis, arthritis, injections but right now I haven't had anything much for a couple years.
Speaker 2:I was in the nursing home a few years, Not a year a few times. It just seems like I just can carry on. I don't know how many more years, but I've had a good life. Let's put it that way.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and did you follow a specific diet of eating that you feel like contributed to your long life In?
Speaker 2:some ways Most of the time. When I was young we had a garden so we always had vegetables. But my mother was a great baker. She loved to bake pies. The lawn can tell you that when they would come to visit Thanksgiving, of course that was a special time. She would have four or five different kinds of pies and rolls. They loved her rolls and her sticky buns. That sounds so good, and so we always had that along. You know which these days that's not good that, of course, but I still think it's good some to have that. I've always eaten a lot of good vegetables and salads and tried especially as you get older you like to eat right, but I still eat cookies and cake and candy.
Speaker 2:I never drank alcohol. I've never drunk any alcohol or smoked or any of that kind of thing. One time when I was at my aunt's house I was about five years old, maybe around there, and I got thirsty and I saw a glass half full on the table when nobody was around and I started to drink it and they found it out and they said oh, you shouldn't drink that, that's beer. Don't drink that. Don't touch anything. You know with a child, yeah, that's beer. Don't drink that Don't touch anything on a child. Yeah, just that age. So I never did. After that I thought, oh okay.
Speaker 1:That was your alcohol lesson right there at five huh.
Speaker 2:That was my alcohol lesson.
Speaker 1:That was my alcohol lesson.
Speaker 2:I think they do say that alcohol contributes to dementia and Alzheimer's. Well, I heard that lately. I did hear that and I was a little surprised because I didn't think it probably did. I never drank much soda either, pepsi and that kind of thing. My husband did some. He loved Pepsi, that was his thing, but he didn't overdrink it Just when he got thirsty he would, and I don't know. There's lots of things you can avoid and try to help yourself to be healthy.
Speaker 1:What about lifestyle? What are some habits, some daily rhythms that you had in your life that you feel like contributed to a longer life?
Speaker 2:Well, I always tried to walk a lot. I wasn't into sports, I didn't play sports any place in high school or college, that wasn't my thing, but I would walk. They would even give us credit for taking walks in college, I remember would even give us credit for taking walks in college, I remember. And my husband had hunting dogs and I would take those dogs and walk with them, sometimes run with them. Even so, I always tried to get exercise, which is good, and be outside a lot and tried to get enough sleep. Of course I was always a good sleeper until lately, I don't know. Just, I always try to eat right.
Speaker 1:And what does eating right mean to you?
Speaker 2:Well, eating the things that are good for you. You know I eat meat. I always ate meat, vegetables and fruit, but I did not avoid sugar sweets. It was one of my favorites. I always tried to. If I gained weight, I tried to keep it off and get it off right away, but right now it's hard. I can't get anything off. I'm too. I sit too much and I can't help it. But those are the things that I did. I don't think I did any more than most people would naturally do.
Speaker 1:Did you practice the rhythm of fasting or anything like that?
Speaker 2:Well, they did sometimes back in our church. It was the Free Methodist Church. I don't know if you ever heard of that. It was a branch of the Methodist church that was my church, and they did fast. I put it in my book I don't know if you remember that about us two friends, my girlfriend and I. We were about 10 years old, 8 or 10. And the people were fasting that day For some reason. I don't know what it was and my mother had baked a cake and put it on the table to cool and in the middle there was a crack down through it. I don't know if you ever saw a cake like that. That happens. I don't know why it happens, but it was there and we decided to take a little piece of that because we were fasting too. That's what we decided. We're going to fast too today, because our mothers and our family, they're fasting. But we saw that cake and we were by ourselves in the kitchen and we started to eat that, and we ate a lot of it. So that was our fast for that day.
Speaker 2:I always tried to be good. You know, I wanted to do everything right. I wanted to be good. I always wanted to obey my mother. I told her a lie when I was in first or second grade. I don't know about what I was wearing. I had to wear long stockings because back then they didn't have dungarees or anything warm and it got to be a nice warm day and on the way home I just rolled those stockings down. But when I got almost home I put them up, so she wouldn't know it, because I didn't know if I was allowed to do that. And the lady next door saw me. Uh-oh, those neighbors.
Speaker 2:My mother. So when I got home I lied about it. I said no, I didn't do that. Well, she said whatever her name was, I don't know, she told me that that you did that. She saw you out the window. So I felt so terrible. I just never forget feeling so terrible to lie to my mother Because we were very close, since I didn't have any sisters or brothers. It was a lot closer to your mother then because of that. I know we were just together most of the time and so she felt so bad and I felt bad so that I never lied again as far as I ever know. That and the drink on the table were two good things for me.
Speaker 2:So you learned things very early that carried you the rest of your life. Those two things I remember, and I wasn't very old, but it worked.
Speaker 1:Is there any advice that you want to pass on to the listeners before we wrap up?
Speaker 2:Well, I don't know. It seems like I've said most of what I would advise to people Put God first in your life. I mean you can pretend or you can think you're following him and living a Christian life or whatever. God Some people don't follow. The real God, of course we know. Don't follow the real God, of course we know, but is he first the first person in your life? You have to put him above your family, your mates, everybody, and sometimes that's hard, sometimes that's not possible, almost it feels like. But if you do it you're going to win. That's the way I felt. That was my goal in life to really put God first.
Speaker 2:And I don't know if that's the reason I'm living alone. I don't really know why I'm living alone. I talked to LaVon about it, my daughter here. I don't know why or what to say about living long. I went to the dentist not long ago a new dentist and they couldn't believe me coming in there and I was 100. And at the end the girls in the office said to me why can you tell me, why you think you're living this long, why you're 100? So I told her. I said I don't know, but I mentioned that I did always try to eat right, live right. But you know, my husband was I didn't know how to express it to some strange live right, but you know, my husband was I didn't know how to express it to some strange person right then.
Speaker 2:And my husband was a minister, oh that's it. She knew right away that I was a follower of God, a true Christian. You know, because I lived my whole life like that, 63 years with him, and that really affected me to think that she would say that after I named all these other things, I should have named that first, I suppose. But you have to be careful sometimes how you speak to people about things. But I did finally say that to her and she caught on right away. So I guess maybe the way I've lived and been a follower of the Lord all my life, ever since I was a little girl, six years old, my mother took me to church all the time. Then she did. My dad didn't go, he never went, but she did. And it's not just going to church, there's a lot of other things involved. People go to church and they think that's it, but it isn't involved. People go to church and they think that's it but it isn't. What do you want the legacy of your life to?
Speaker 2:be that I did my best to do everything that I had to do. I tried to do my best and live a great, clean life and follow God the best I could put Him first.
Speaker 1:That's all I know to say yeah, oh, that's beautiful. Betty, thank you so much for your time. You're so brave. I got carried away, but some things that I didn't.
Speaker 2:It's difficult, like I say, for me to talk. Yeah.
Speaker 2:I can remember things. I can remember everything that I wrote in that book that you had from at 90 years old 95 I was when I wrote that. I didn't write it back before that and that's amazing to me that I could remember all those things. After a while I would say, oh LaVon, I think of something else. I should have put this in the book. It just came to my mind and it's so great. That is a great thing to be able to remember and have your mental capacities.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely. Is this book available on amazon and other places amazon I think, I don't know about it, we gave it.
Speaker 2:Okay, she gave, she gives them away.
Speaker 1:You guys can find betty baker's book called my journey to 100 years wherever books are sold, like amazon. Amazon has it. That's where it's at. Okay, so my journey, my Journey to 100 Years Old by Betty Baker is sold on Amazon. If you guys want to know more about Betty who she is, go get the book and read it. Betty, it's been an honor and a pleasure having you on the podcast.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much Thank you very much.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening to the Once we Dare podcast. It is an honor to share these encouraging stories with you. If you enjoy the show, I would love for you to tell your friends. Leave us a reviewer rating and subscribe to wherever you listen to podcasts, because this helps others discover the show. You can find me on my website, speckhopoffcom. Thank you.