~ The Advocate Asks ~

Saugus resident Sadie Thibault looks forward to her 25th Leap Year Birthday as she nears 100 years old

 

  Editor’s Note: For this week’s column, we sat down with Sadie Thibault, who will become Saugus’ latest Centenarian next Thursday (Feb. 29). She said turning 100 will be her “greatest accomplishment.” Sadie’s daughter, Deborah, joined us for the interview. Sadie was born Sadie Doris Pearl Reed in Lynn on Feb. 29, 1924. She is a 1941 graduate of Saugus High School. She is the oldest of nine children and is the only surviving sibling. Sadie went to work at GE after graduation, where she met her future husband, Alfred “Al” Thibault. They married on Sept. 17, 1949. Sadie worked for 39 years as the church secretary at the East Baptist Church in Lynn. She and Al worshiped at the Park Street Church in Boston, where they were both Sunday School teachers. Their only child, Deborah, 63, was born in 1960. The couple finished building the house that Sadie and her daughter still live in during 1961. Al and Sadie were married for 34 years before Al passed away in October of 1983. Deborah, a 1978 graduate of Saugus High School, earned a bachelor’s degree in music and education from Gordon College. She has worked most of her life as a sales associate in the seafood industry, working the last 30 years for Slade Gorton, a company that imports seafood from around the world. Highlights of this week’s interview follow.

 

Q: Please tell me what it means for you to be turning 100 years old. Have other relatives or people in your family reached the century mark?

A: It’s hard to say how I feel. I’m still alive. It doesn’t feel like 100. No one else in my family has reached this milestone. I know my limbs don’t work the way they used to. I was the oldest of nine children and I outlived them all. My sister Loraine died last year.

Q: Are you excited to be turning 100 soon?

A: No. It makes me wonder what the next 100 years are going to be like!

Q: You never thought you would make it to 100?

A: Never. The Lord has been good to me. He’s given me good health and kept me well all of these years.

Q: What’s it like having a birthday on Feb. 29th, which only comes around in a Leap Year, every four years. In those years when it’s not a Leap Year, how do you celebrate your birthday?

A: We’d celebrate it on March 1. I wasn’t here on the 28th [of February] . I wasn’t here earlier, so my birthday was on March 1.

Q: As you look back, what are you most proud of; what’s the most interesting thing you’ve done and greatest accomplishment?

A: I’m most proud of working with children, teaching Sunday School and Children’s Church. I started in High School. I worked with kids in Good News Clubs and Sunday School. I worked with CEF [Child Evangelism Fellowship].

The most interesting thing was when I went to Holland twice in the 1950s. Those were good trips. Both were mission trips. On one of the trips, the plane had to stop early to be repaired. We had to put up overnight, and that was quite an experience. We worked with children, a lot of them who were orphans.

My greatest accomplishment will be reaching 100.

Q: I see you are a registered voter in the town street list. I guess you take elections seriously. Do you make a point of voting in every election? When was the first time you voted for president and who is your favorite president?

A: Yes, I vote in every election. I don’t remember the first presidential election I voted in.

Q: Do you have a favorite president?

A: Eisenhower. I liked Eisenhower. He was a gentleman and he kept things in order. He was a good family man. He was my favorite.

Q: Do you still cook? If so, what’s your favorite dish?

A: No. Not anymore. My favorite was roast beef and pecan pie.

Q: What’s the secret to your longevity? Diet? Exercise? People in your family living a long time?

A: Trust in the Lord and prayer. He guides you through the Bible. I pray daily and read the Bible. Growing up, my mother made sure we went to Sunday School.

Q: And you led a healthy life.

A: I never smoked. I never drank alcohol and I stayed out of the sun. I always stayed in the shade; I got burnt once and thought it was enough. I must have been in High School. It taught me to cover up. We ate healthy, except for dessert, and cooked from scratch.

Q: So, where are your folks from?

A: My father and mother were both from Nova Scotia and they met at GE and got married.

Q: What was it like being a kid in Saugus?

A: Saugus was very rural; it was the country. I spent most of my time with my family. As kids, we played kick-the-can – we didn’t have much time because we had to do homework and help around the house with chores. I went to the movies in the Pythian Hall in Saugus Center with my mom – it cost 10 cents, so we didn’t go very often. We got newsreels, cartoons and the movie. In the good old days, we would put on ice skates and skate around the pond; down on the Lynn Commons, they used to flood it with water to make a skating rink.

Q: Please tell me about your late husband, Alfred. How did you meet? What did he do? What do you remember most about him?

A: We met at GE. We both worked in the same department. He was from Newburyport and was a great guy. He was tall and handsome, very funny, caring and he could fix anything. He was a machinist (tool and die maker).

Q: Did you belong to any local organizations?

A: No. I was never one to get into clubs. I was too busy working with kids or spending time with my family.

Q: What is your favorite meal?

A: Fried clams. But I haven’t had any in a while.

Q: What do you do these days? How do you spend your time? Read a lot? Do puzzles or crossword puzzles? Watch “Jeopardy!”? Go on the computer?

A: I read magazines, watch birds, watch TV and do word search puzzles.

Q: What is your routine like? When do you get up and when do you go to bed?

A: I get up around 7 or 7:30 in the morning. I go to bed at 9:30 to 10 at night. I watch TV. My favorite program is Perry Mason. I used to do a lot of stuff for CEF. I used to do a lot of knitting and sewing for the children. But once you get old, you can’t do some of those things anymore.

Q: As you look back on your life, is there anything on “the bucket list” – things you wish you had done? Anything you would’ve liked to have done?

A: Travel a little more; I would have liked to travel a little more.

Q: Where would you like to travel?

A: I’d like to go see family, but they are all dead.

Q: As you look back on your life, please talk about the biggest changes you have witnessed over the years. What was it like back in the day when you and your husband moved into your first house in Saugus, when you didn’t have all of the modern conveniences of today?

A: The ice box to refrigerators and freezers; the invention of washing machines and dryers; telephones; cars and trucks – we used to have to crank them up to start. And there were very few people with them. We walked everywhere. When we got married, we had all of the “modern conveniences” of the day …they just changed over time, like everything else.

Q:What do you love about Saugus the most?

A: It’s a quiet town and people are friendly. It’s a quiet town, from where I sit. We were the only ones up here [Charles Street] at first. It was a dirt road. When I got the car stuck in the mud, I’d have to wait til my husband got home to get it out.

Q: You drove a car.

A: I got my license when I was 18 or 19.

At that point, Deborah interjected that mom “was a very good driver” who made a decision several years ago to give up driving.

Deborah: She just came home one day and said, “I don’t want to drive anymore, but don’t get rid of my car.” I was fortunate that we didn’t have to have that conversation [about driving]. She just gave it up. She was a good driver and never got into any accidents. She decided to stop one day.

Q: What do you think is the most amazing thing about your mom?

Deborah: She’s very strong. She’s been just strong and stoic and never wavered in doing what she thought was right. Some people change with the wind. But she knew who she is. She’s just a strong woman.,

Q: Anything else that you would like to say about your mom?

A: She was a fabulous cook and she loved to entertain. Her pie crust is world renown and her pecan pie was amazing. An interesting thing: She thought her first name was Sarah until she went to get her birth certificate so she could work at GE.

My mom never remarried after my dad died because she thought no one would ever meet my father’s standards. He was a private in the U.S. Army. He was 10 years older than my mom. He was a confirmed bachelor. When he was thinking about getting married, my dad went to Arizona to see a friend and ask for some advice. He had to go clear across the country to make up his mind. He came back with turquoise earrings, a necklace and a bracelet she still wears. We used to do a lot of picnics and go on road trips. We never flew anywhere. We always drove.

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