Lutheran Home resident turns 100 Jan. 16

Alvina Lally will celebrate her 100th birthday Jan. 16 at the Lutheran Home. FRED LYNCH flynch@semissourian.com [Click to enlarge]

Alvina Lally turns 100 years old on Jan. 16. She lives at the Lutheran Home in Cape Girardeau and said she has lived this long "because God wanted me to."

In her years, she has learned many lessons. Chief among them, she said, is to "be independent. Do things for yourself. Don't expect other people to do it for you."

Lally was born in 1909 into a family of 11 children. The family originally lived in Kelso, Mo., until her dad decided the town was no place to raise children so they all moved to an 80-acre farm. Two of Lally's siblings died in infancy, and a brother died at the age of 8 from a complication from mumps.

At 19, Lally moved to St. Louis at the promptings of her sister. She lived and worked at different jobs in St. Louis until she was 62. Then she moved back to Cape Girardeau to help take care of her parents.

Lally worked in a small arms factory in St. Louis during World War II and at Singer Sewing Machine for 23 years. She also worked at Vandivort's Department Store. She said she did what she could to support herself and her daughter, who died at age 4.

"I had to pay rent, buy food and pay utilities," she said. "All on $2 an hour."

Lally sewed and made dresses and clothes for herself and her sister, Viola Westrich. She owned one car, which she kept for only about six months. She was around 40 then.

Lally said she enjoys attending the activities at the Lutheran Home. She especially likes playing bingo.

"It doesn't require much energy," she said. She still has a gold medal and crown she keeps in a drawer in her room. She won them participating in events at the nursing home.

"She is very organized," said her great-niece, Susan Essner, who works at the Lutheran Home.

Lally didn't intentionally exercise, but Essner said, "She has always been active."

Lally is also religious. She is a longtime member of St. Mary's Cathedral in Cape Girardeau, and as she talked she held a rosary in her hand.

Like most who live to be 100, Lally has few relatives left. Only two siblings out of the 10 she originally had are still living. She said she would really like being that old if she felt better. She uses a cane and walker within her assisted-living apartment but needs a wheelchair for long distances.

She said she has seen too many changes in the world to remember, but computers are something she didn't grow up with. Lally thinks that because the most money she ever made was $2 an hour, people should be more satisfied with what they make now. She doesn't remember celebrating New Year's Day in any special way, as people do today.

Lally loves visitors and cards and said she would be happier if she had more of both.