104 years young

Alice Ruter, who has lived most of her life around Wellsburg but currently resides at Arlington Place Assisted Living in Grundy Center, has resided in Grundy County for all but two of her years since before World War I— she’s 104 now, to be exact. Even as a centenarian, however, she maintains her trademark spunk and wit, and she recently sat down with The Grundy Register to discuss her life, family and what keeps her going.
 
“I’ve been a jack of all trades and a master of none,” she said with a laugh.
 
Born in rural Wellsburg in 1911, Ruter came from a large farm family: she was the fourth youngest of 14 children, and she is the only one still living today.
 
“I wish I had some of them back,” she said.
 
Ruter recalls attending a rural school, eating from dinner buckets and warming up toast for her only hot food of the day. She eventually graduated from Wellsburg High School in 1930, and within 12 weeks at Ellsworth College in Iowa Falls, she was certified to teach (by comparison, today’s teachers are required to complete a four-year program). 
 
Read more in this week's Grundy Register.