At 100, Mary Hunt remains an avid baseball fan

As a teenager in 1917 or so, it used to take her three modes of transportation just to get from Reynoldsville, Ill., to Cape Girardeau.

"I used to have to catch the little train to McClure and then a hack (horse-drawn taxi), go to the river and catch the boat to Cape, and I don't think it was over 20 miles," said Mary Hunt, who turns 100 years old today.

Hunt lives by herself in a retirement home at the Saxony Village in Cape Girardeau. The village will be holding a birthday party for Hunt from 2 to 4 p.m. today.

Born Dec. 12, 1902, in Reynoldsville, Hunt later moved to Cape Girardeau. She married Elton Hunt in 1929, and the couple moved to Flint, Mich., where he worked for Chevrolet. The Hunts returned to Cape Girardeau during the depression.

Elton worked at International Shoe Company until he went blind from macular degeneration in the 1960s and retired. Mary worked at Sears and the Broadway Fruit Market some but mostly stayed home and kept house.

"Elton always said, 'You can do what you want, but I would rather you stay home,'" Hunt said.

The Hunts lived in an apartment on Middle Street for more than 50 years. They moved to Saxony Village in March of 1998. Elton died almost one year later in February. He was in his 90s.

When asked the secret to her long life, Mary said, "I have nothing to do with it. The Lord has taken care of me, and I thank the Lord every day."

Pinochle and baseball

Hunt used to enjoy roller skating and playing pinochle. She and Elton played cards with another couple every Saturday night. Each week, they deposited money into a kitty which was spent on annual vacation trips to Florida.

Hunt still plays pinochle once a week, rolls her own hair, and is an avid baseball fan. She used to listen to games over the radio with Elton's father quite a bit, while she and Elton watched local games every day.

Even though it upset her when the St. Louis Cardinals traded Fernando Tatis two years ago, Hunt still stays up to watch on game nights.

Hunt fondly remembers window shopping with Elton along Main Street. The couple was two months shy of being married 70 years when he died.

She has a cane, but Hunt carries it most of the time, according to Gail Knaup, wellness coordinator at Saxony Village. And Hunt likes to sleep in until 10 or 11 a.m., but when she does get out, she is always nicely dressed and always has her earrings on.

"She's just a hoot. She makes me laugh," Knaup said. "She's always telling the other residents here, 'You just wait until you get to my age.'"

The average age at Saxony Village is in the late 80s. Hunt is the oldest resident at the village and the first person to ever turn 100 years of age there.

In addition to throwing her a party, the retirement village will be serving ham and beans for lunch today, which is one of Hunt's favorite meals.

"There's nothing wrong with my appetite. I'll eat anything you put before me. We don't have ham and beans very often, but I have complained enough that we are going to have them," Hunt said with a squint of her eyes.

jgosche@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 133