Sunshine and clouds mixed. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 87F. Winds NNW at 5 to 10 mph..
Mainly clear. Low 61F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph.
A report by the National Transportation Safety Board released Thursday concluded that the probable cause of a single-engine plane crash that killed the legendary U.S. Navy F-14 Tomcat pilot, Capt. Dale “Snort” Snodgrass, last July, was pilot error.
MOSCOW — Ten years ago, a young and eager Phil Helbling took charge as head football coach at his alma mater, Moscow High School.
We tend to have short-term memory when it comes to the world around us.
<text>Anna Ch</text><text>arbonneau points skyward as she says her 100 years on Earth is all thanks to God during an interview Thursday at her room at Riverview Residential Care</text><text> Center in Clarkston. Charbonneau turned 100 years old Tuesday.</text>
Anna Charbonneau wipes her eyes after becoming emotional as she thinks back on her 100 years of life Thursday in Clarkston. While the subject matter of the photo in question is nothing extraordinary, the occasion of turning 100 years old and the emotion behind the memory makes it special.
Anna Charbonneau and her family are pictured on the wall in her room on Thursday.
Anna Charbonneau talks about her life in her room Thursday in Clarkston.
Anna Charbonneau poses for a portrait on Thursday.
A "Happy Birthday" necklace sits around Anna Charbonneau’s neck on Thursday.
<text>Anna Ch</text><text>arbonneau points skyward as she says her 100 years on Earth is all thanks to God during an interview Thursday at her room at Riverview Residential Care</text><text> Center in Clarkston. Charbonneau turned 100 years old Tuesday.</text>
Anna Charbonneau wipes her eyes after becoming emotional as she thinks back on her 100 years of life Thursday in Clarkston. While the subject matter of the photo in question is nothing extraordinary, the occasion of turning 100 years old and the emotion behind the memory makes it special.
Anna Charbonneau and her family are pictured on the wall in her room on Thursday.
Anna Charbonneau talks about her life in her room Thursday in Clarkston.
Anna Charbonneau poses for a portrait on Thursday.
A "Happy Birthday" necklace sits around Anna Charbonneau’s neck on Thursday.
She’s danced with Lawrence Welk, witnessed a meteorite crash and still recalls events from when she was 2 years old.
Anna “Erna Rath” Charbonneau turned 100 on Tuesday and will celebrate the milestone today with family and friends.
In her cozy room at Riverview Residential Care Center in Clarkston, Anna credited her strong faith and good genes for her long life. “The Lord is with me,” she said, wiping away tears of gratitude. “My belief in God has been a big part of living this long. He has been with me all my life and has helped me through life’s trials and joys.”
She was born in a house in Tuttle, N.D., on July 5, 1922, the oldest of seven girls and one boy. Her daughter, Judy Dingman, of Lewiston, was born in the same house in 1945.
Anna’s earliest memory is of a great-grandfather who had a stroke when she was 2. “He died in 1924,” she said. “I can still remember visiting him.”
During her childhood, she rode in a Model T, helped extinguish a fire on the prairie and remembers turning the horses and cows out of the barn. Her father taught her to shoot a revolver, and she learned to milk cows.
When she was about 6 years old, Anna was given a mouth harp. One day, her mama asked where it was, and Anna said she planted it in the dirt to get more, just like growing flowers.
One of her greatest memories is sitting on the clothesline and seeing a “big ball of fire come out of the sky.” It turned out to be a meteor, but Anna thought she’d caused it by breaking the rules and sitting on her mother’s clothesline. The meteor fell near Dawson, N.D., not far from their house at that time.
In 1929, she recalls the hard times during the Depression and eating bread and gravy three times a day. One of her sisters got measles and pneumonia in 1930, and with no doctor nearby, a neighbor lady put “mustard plaster” on the child to help her get well, Anna said.
Helping out at Mr. Iron’s service station led to her first encounter with Lawrence Welk. He played music on a platform on Wednesday nights, and Anna was tasked with fetching beer for the famous musician and “his boys.” She danced to his music, but lost track of him when he got a job at a radio station in 1937. They would later dance together when Welk played in a hall where Anna and her friends and family members were known as the “Jitterbugs of Tuttle.”
“We sure had fun dancing,” she wrote in a memory book. “I was usually home in time to go to Sunday school and church. Most people went to church even if they lived six miles from town.”
Anna also worked as a “babysitter and a cowgirl” during her youth. She made it to the eighth grade and later got her GED.
In 1940, she visited an aunt and uncle in Sandpoint, where she met her first husband. They were engaged on top of a Ferris wheel and married in a Presbyterian church in 1941. The couple had four children before divorcing. She and her second husband added another girl to the family.
After that marriage ended, Anna was single for 13 years before she married Segius “Lefty” Charbonneau. “I now had eight children with five of my own, plus three stepchildren.”
“After we were married, we started square, round and ballroom dancing,” she wrote. “We danced with the Silver Foxes and the Whirlaways dance groups. We had so much fun.”
Lefty died in 1992, and Anna said she misses him greatly.
Over the years, she traveled on many Alpha Omega Charter bus tours and has visited all but 10 states. “I wish I could still travel,” she said, “but I can’t really walk anymore.”
In her younger days, Anna wanted to be “a nurse or a cop.” Her nursing career was curtailed by an injury that wouldn’t allow her to do heavy lifting, but she cared for family members and worked as a dispatcher.
In the past century, she’s seen many changes. A grandson jokes she’s gone from “buffalo chips to microchips” during her lifetime.
Anna now lives in a small, adult family home, where she receives “excellent care.” She’s looking forward to seeing her children, grandchildren and other longtime friends at her birthday party today.
“I have aches and pains, but I keep going,” she said. “I pray in Jesus’ name that God protects me for a long time and also ask protection for my family.”
Sandaine can be reached at kerris@lmtribune.com.
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