Windsor resident enjoyed 105th birthday this week

‘I didn’t think anyone could live that long,’ said Freda
Corwin
By Barry W. Dugan, Managing Editor
Freda Corwin is just as surprised as anyone to be turning 105
years old this week.
&#8220I didn’t think that anyone could live that long,” she
said during an hour-long interview at Windsor House, a board and
care home where she has lived for the past three months.
&#8220I was just one of the lucky ones.”
Corwin is alert, astute and demonstrates a remarkable memory for
someone who passed the century mark five years ago. She celebrated
her 105th birthday Tuesday with her housemates and Windsor House
staff, including a cake and a candle that read &#8220105.”
&#8220She is amazing,” said Pat Schoonover, the manager of
the facility on Jensen Lane. &#8220She just enjoys life.”
Corwin was born in Westphalen, Germany on April 11, 1901. Her
father, who was a farmer in Germany, emigrated by himself to the
United States when she was an infant and sent for his family a few
years later. They settled in Springfield, Ill., where he was a
brick layer and raised a family of 10 children. &#8220He built
us a 10-room brick house,” recalls Corwin, who added that the house
was still standing during a visit in 1970.
&#8220I have seen a lot of changes,” she said. &#8220The
most interesting was when we saw a missile go up at Cape Canaveral
… it trembled where we were on the other side of the lake… we got
up at 3 o’clock in the morning to see it.”
Corwin attended German Lutheran school in Springfield and then
graduated from Brown’s Business College. She married her first
husband, a factory worker, in 1920. &#8220Women didn’t work at
that time,” she said matter-of-factly. &#8220Women just didn’t
do that in those days.”
She remarried in 1950 after the death of her first husband and
later moved to Sebastopol to live with her daughter, June Sokolis,
and granddaughter, Sharon Young. Corwin has
great-great-grandchildren and great-great-great-grandchildren.
She is one of two remaining children in her family. Her little
sister, Emily, is 95 and just recently visited her in Windsor.
If there is a secret to her longevity, Corwin doesn’t know what
it is. &#8220I don’t know,” she said when asked why she has
lived this long. &#8220I wonder, too, why I’m still here.”
She never smoked, only drank moderately (&#8220a high ball
during a party”) and didn’t have any special exercise routine.
&#8220I liked to cook,” Corwin said. &#8220I’d bake pies
and cakes, and my family came over to my house to eat. There was
always somebody there. I always had a house full of people.”
Apparently, she has always been good company. &#8220She is
very sweet and easy to get along with,” Schoonover said.
Corwin’s two brothers fought in WWI. Her mother and father
visited Germany just before WWII broke out and returned with a bad
feeling about Hitler and the Nazis. &#8220They thought it was
terrible, he was terrible,” she said. &#8220They didn’t dare to
mention Hitler’s name … he will have to pay for all that some
day.”
She still watches the news and mentions the Iraq War and the
fact that &#8220we don’t have any business there.”
Asked who the country’s current president is, Corwin quickly
answers, &#8220Bush,” and then adds, &#8220We don’t need
him.”
The latest fashion trends don’t escape Corwin’s notice, either.
&#8220Styles have sure changed,” she said. &#8220These
young girls with their tattoos and their piercings …even on the
tongue… it’s terrible. They should be glad they have a tongue.”
&#8220You notice everything,” Schoonover said.
&#8220I try to remember,” Corwin said.
And apparently, she is not overburdened with regrets.
When asked if there is anything she might do differently if she
had it all to do over again, she said &#8220I think I’d do it
about the same. I never regretted anything.”
During a lull in the conversation, Corwin gazes out a window to
a rainy day and a pink camellia bush in full bloom.
&#8220Look at the flowers,” she said, to no one in
particular.