(Editor\u2019s note: This story ran July 29, in the Auburn Reporter, prior to Reathel\u2019s birthday. The Kent Reporter staff hopes she had a happy birthday.)<\/p>\n
On the brink of becoming a centenarian, a feisty yet generous Reathel Norberg really doesn\u2019t know how it will feel.<\/p>\n
\u201cGet me through Saturday and I\u2019ll let you know,\u201d said the Auburn woman. \u201cI don\u2019t know why I\u2019m living so long \u2026 but I know I feel fine.\u201d<\/p>\n
Norberg, who was born and raised in Kent and lived in the Green River Valley throughout most of her active life, turned 100 Aug. 1. Family and friends threw her a party at the Rio Verde Mobile Home Estates, 1402 22nd St. NE, Auburn.<\/p>\n
Norberg welcomes all the fuss and is enjoying her milestone.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t mind it at all,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Norberg is the first in her family to reach 100. Her father, a railroad man, and her brother each lived to be 97.<\/p>\n
She will join an elite company. The United States currently has the greatest number of centenarians in the world, estimated at 96,548 on Nov. 1, 2008. The U.S. number is partly a function of America\u2019s burgeoning growth from 1890-1910, large farm population a century ago, and an increased emphasis on long-term care facilities.<\/p>\n
For Norberg, longevity means taking good care of yourself and staying active. She\u2019s a light eater and takes her supplements.<\/p>\n
Cod liver oil has been a part of her diet since 1937.<\/p>\n
Norberg\u2019s parents came from Nebraska, moved to Oklahoma and then to Kent. She spent her school years in Kent, graduating from Kent High School.<\/p>\n
During the summer, she worked at the Libby canning plant with her father.<\/p>\n
The family lived and survived on meager means. Her mother was a seamstress and her large, well-stocked closet would supply dresses to girls who needed them.<\/p>\n
Reathel and Bert Norberg were married on Oct. 18, 1934. Both worked at Boeing \u2013 Bert as an engineer, Reathel in the release unit where airplane drawings were dialogued and kept.<\/p>\n
They enjoyed dancing, often occupying the floor at the historic Castle Hall on Highway 99. \u201cAnytime we had a dollar, we would go dancing,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
They settled in Kent, raising a son and daughter. They retired on Orcas Island, wintered at their second home in Arizona and travelled.<\/p>\n
The couple eventually moved to Auburn.<\/p>\n
Bert passed away in 2008.<\/p>\n
Living at the Parkside Retirement Center in Auburn today, Reathel stays active with family and friends. She has four grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.<\/p>\n
She enjoys children, playing cards, reading and sharing her good sense of humor and laughter with family and friends.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve had a good life,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
(Editor\u2019s note: This story ran July 29, in the Auburn Reporter, prior to Reathel\u2019s birthday. The Kent Reporter staff hopes she had a happy birthday.) On the brink of becoming a centenarian, a feisty yet generous Reathel Norberg really doesn\u2019t know how it will feel. \u201cGet me through Saturday and I\u2019ll let you know,\u201d said […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":106,"featured_media":9890,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-9889","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9889"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/106"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9889"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9889\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9890"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9889"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9889"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9889"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=9889"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}