Gail Cleveland celebrates her 100th birthday

CRESCO - Gail Bonwell Cleveland celebrated her 100th birthday last week with a large gathering of family and friends at Kessel Lodge in Cresco.

 A resident of Accura HealthCare  in Cresco, Cleveland met with the Cresco Times Plain Dealer  and with assistance from her son, Larry, discussed her milestone birthday and her secret to a long life.

Larry  Cleveland said his mother was born in Nashua, and met her future husband at her aunt Betty’s home.

She had one sister and two brothers, and her parents took in three more relatives as brothers.

He said his mother pitched softball around the area for quite a few years.

When asked when she and her husband were married, Gail Cleveland paused, saying, “I was married in 1939. It all goes by so fast, I can’t keep track.”

The Clevelands moved to LeRoy, Minn. and farmed there until 1962. They  bought Cleveland Grocery in Chester and operated the store for about 12 years.

While Gail kept busy raising her children, she also enjoyed gardening.

“We had to use a shovel,” she said. “We didn’t have a tractor.”

Reflecting upon the changes she has seen since her birth in 1918, Gail said much is different.

“There have been a lot of changes since I was a kid. We didn’t have school buses. We had to walk. We walked two miles to go to school in the first grade. When we went to Sunday school, we had two miles to walk. We didn’t know what it was to have a car.”

She said her father eventually bought a little red car.

“We drove that until it went kaput,” she said.

What is Gail Cleveland’s secret to reaching her 100th birthday?

She is adamant: “Get up and walk. I don’t use those carts (wheelchairs) they have here. I walk the full length of this building. I’ve always walked and my old doctor that came here a few years ago said walking does you more good than anything else. That’s what I do.” 

She also keeps a positive attitude, and is quick to praise the staff at Accura Healthcare.

“I get along well here. The girls are all good, and I can’t complain,” she said. 

Gail Cleveland has 27 grandchildren, nearly 40 great-grandchildren, and a total of five generations in her family. Her next milestone is to be a part of a five-generation family photograph.