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Elsie Colegrove celebrates a festive 100th year as the United States celebrates its 226th. She cherishes greetings from two governors.
By BETSY BOLGER-PAULET, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times, published July 5, 2002
Sitting in her favorite chair in her neat apartment in Largo, Elsie Colegrove is surrounded by red, white and blue stars and streamers. She seems a little confused. Can't quite understand what all the fuss is about.
"I'm just a little everyday kid," says the modest little woman who celebrated her 100th birthday on Thursday.
"I just took my birthday for granted. Mama always made a big birthday cake and we had homemade ice cream. Yummmm," says Mrs. Colegrove, who was born on America's birthday in 1902.
With that birth date, she was nicknamed "Firecracker."
"My life was simple but it was good," says the granddaughter of a Union Army veteran of the Civil War.
She was born Elsie Sperling, in College Point, N.Y. She grew up in the factory town that hosted two major rubber companies and was located just outside Flushing, N.Y.
Mrs. Colegrove remembers going skating with her brother Everett Milton Sperling.
"He told everyone his name was Everett "Milkman' Sperling," she says, laughing.
And there was her sister, five years younger, Evelyn Sperling.
Social life revolved around the College Point Dutch Reformed Church where the children "went to Sunday school every Sunday," says Mrs. Colegrove, who "never smoked and never drank".
She fondly remembers the little town where, on patriotic holidays, the school kids would have a parade down Main Street.
"I thought that was wonderful," she says. "Of course that could have been because after the parade we always got an ice cream cone."
She loved to watch her grandfather march in the parades:
"He looked so smart in his Civil War uniform. Hat and all ... the Grand Army of the Republic, he would say."
Her grandfather was lucky. He lost only one lung in the fighting. On the official data bank list of Union soldiers, her grandfather is listed: Hoenig, William -- Union Infantry 133rd Regiment, New York Infantry, rank private.
"He told us stories," she says. Some were about her uncle, who died of starvation as an Andersonville POW. "There was no shelter, no food, no nothing," she recalls her grandfather telling her.
He was too young and when his mother wouldn't sign for him to go into the Army, he had a friend do it for him. Because he used a fictitious identity, his name does not appear on the official list of union prisoners at Andersonville. But Mrs. Colegrove remembers the time when her grandfather took all the family to Georgia.
"We wanted to visit my uncle's grave. But there were so many, so many graves. We could never figure out which was his," she says.
She worked in an office until she married Bruce Ward Colegrove, office manager for a company that published parcel post rate guides used in offices all over the country. They had one son, Bruce Ward Jr., who graduated from Dartmouth and is now retired after 29 years as a captain for Eastern Airlines. She has a great-grandson and a great-granddaughter.
After Mrs. Colegrove's sister retired as a New York City school principal, the two came to Florida. She apologizes for not remembering dates, but thinks it was around 25 years ago when the sisters shared a condo in Lakeview of Largo, which she still owns.
After her sister died 10 years ago, Mrs. Colegrove moved into the independent living area of the Barrington Senior Living Community. Two years ago, when she lost an eye, she moved into the special care section.
"They take good care of me," she says. "Someone come to see me and help me to the dining room three times a day and the staff manicures our nails."
She calls Kate Armstrong her "right hand."
Mrs. Colegrove knows Ms. Armstrong from the Church of the Isles Congregational, Indian Rocks Beach, where she and her sister were members for many years. Armstrong helps her daily.
"I can dress myself okay, but I can't get my clothes out of the closet or see what I'm wearing," Mrs. Colegrove says. "Kate does my laundry and lays out a week's worth of clothes on the extra bed. Every day I have something fresh to wear."
And it was Ms. Armstrong who decorated her apartment and its entryway to celebrate the holiday and her friend's auspicious birthday.
Mrs. Colegrove is a little sad because she didn't receive a card from President Bush.
"He must be very busy," she says.
But she is proud to show off the letter from Tallahassee with its official gold seal and signature of the president's brother, Gov. Jeb Bush. And the congratulations from New York Gov. George Pataki.
It's difficult to advise children today. Life is so far away from what it was. People stayed at home back then. We weren't allowed out at night. It's not good for kids to run around all over the place, and to smoke and drink. It doesn't lead to anything good.
In 1902 there were only 45 states. Oklahoma joined the union in 1907; New Mexico and Arizona in 1912, and Alaska and Hawaii in 1959.