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Turning 102 at a Roaring Twenties party
Elouise Lyons was born just as the Twenties began. For her 102nd birthday, the party went back to the decade where she started. more
The folks at Glenwood Village in Overland Park threw her a Roaring Twenties party, and Elouise, who is from Kansas City, dressed as if Gatsby himself had sent the invitation. She wore a black dress covered in sequins and beads, with a feathered headband. Friends and family gathered around her in the garden, among the flowers.
Asked for her favorite birthday memory, Elouise hardly knows where to begin. "There's too many birthdays," she says. The one she picks is with her twin sister. "We danced a little bit."
SaveThen comes the question about living so long, and Elouise keeps her answer short. "I don't know." Her son, Paul Lyons, has a theory. His mother takes everything in stride and stays positive, and she has had a daily shot of Scotch whiskey for years and years.
Her twin couldn't come to the party. She spent the birthday in San Francisco, so the sisters celebrated apart, one there and one here. Elouise figures the two of them must have done something right to reach 102. "Evidently we did."
Her generation has likely seen more change, in this country and around the world, than just about anyone. Paul puts it plainly. When his mother and his aunt were born, people had only just started flying airplanes.
Even after 101 other birthday celebrations, this one can still make her emotional, the happy kind. At 102, Elouise is already looking forward to the next one.
