West Newsmagazine 2-7-18

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Local resident celebrates 110th birthday
By JIM MERKEL
When Lucy Hamm was born, Theodore
Roosevelt was president. She was in her
20s during the Depression. A resident of
Brooking Park Assisted Living in Chesterfield,
she celebrated her 110th birthday on
Jan. 30.
Hamm says she’s not as active as she
was before she moved to Brooking Park
from the Tower Grove Manor retirement
apartments in St. Louis late in 2015. But
she still keeps busy.
“Up until October of 2015, she was completely
independent,” said Janice Hamm,
Lucy’s daughter-in-law. “But she still does
everything she possibly can.”
What’s Lucy’s secret to living so long?
“I guess the good Lord thought I was
good,” she said. But others have different
ideas.
Janice said Lucy credited her long life to
hard work. She worked at shoe companies
and retired at 72.
She’s the only one of her parents’ 13
children to live so long, Janice said of
her mother-in-law. She added that part of
the secret to Lucy’s long life likely is a
good basic diet when she was young and
poor. But Lucy’s granddaughter, Debbie
Meyer, offered a different story. “When I
was younger, she used to say ‘A beer a day,
every day but Sunday,’” Meyer said.
Lucy was born on Jan. 30, 1908, in Cairo,
Illinois, at the confluence of the Mississippi
and the Ohio rivers.
“I remember we was poor. My dad had
a brick yard,” she said. Lucy was the first
person in her family to go to high school.
After she married, she moved to Missouri.
Hamm
“My husband didn’t have a job, so we
just came up here for him to get a job,” she
said. “I didn’t like [St. Louis] at first, but I
finally got used to it.”
During World War II, Lucy was in
charge of an inspection department at a
small arms factory. She and her husband
had two children, seven grandchildren, 11
great-grandchildren and one great-greatgrandchild.
When you live to be 110, you witness
a lot of history and, when you like to be
involved, you experience a lot of it, too.
“So many times when you’re talking, she
comes up with something you didn’t know
before,” Janice said.
While at Tower Grove Manor, people
started calling her the sheriff, because she
was involved with everything. She still is
involved in a lot of things. “Don’t forget,
I’m still working. I’m playing bingo,”
Hamm said, wearing a tin toy badge. And
the sheriff has no desire to stop.
February 7, 2018
WEST NEWSMAGAZINE I NEWS I 37
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WOMEN
IN
HEALTH, from page 28
level center court. The event will feature
information from a variety of health and
wellness experts, a blood drive sponsored
by the American Red Cross, free food samples
and live music. For more information,
visit chesterfield-mall.com.
• • •
Cholesterol and glucose wellness
screenings are available from 7-10:30
a.m. on Friday, Feb. 16 at the St. Luke’s
Hospital Resource Center, 101 St. Luke’s
Center Drive in Chesterfield. Screenings
including cholesterol and glucose measurement;
a one-on-one consultation with a
registered nurse/health coach also includes
blood pressure and body composition measurements.
The fee for all screenings is
$20; a minimum 10-hour fast and advance
appointments are required. Register online
at stlukes-stl.com.
• • •
Area residents are encouraged to participate
in an American Red Cross blood
drive from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. on Friday, Feb.
23 at St. Luke’s Hospital’s Institute for
Health Education, 222 S. Woods Mill Road
in Chesterfield [North Medical Office
Building, Level 2]. To register for an
appointment time, visit redcrossblood.org
and enter the sponsor code SAINTLUKES
or call 314-658-2090.
• • •
St. Luke’s Hospital holds its annual
Spirit of Women Day of Dance event
from 9 a.m.-noon on Saturday, Feb. 24 at
the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel & Conference
Center, 16625 Swingley Ridge Road
in Chesterfield. Join the largest dance party
in St. Louis while learning fun ways to stay
healthy, including Zumba and other dance
fitness demonstrations. Enjoy a morning
of dance, music, health screenings and
shopping, along with half-price massage
sales. Attendance is free, but registration is
required by visiting www.stlukes-stl.com.
For more information, call (314) 205-6706.
BUSINESS
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A special section featuring West St. Louis County’s
best and brightest female entrepreneurs and professionals.
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