Centenarians Mark Occasion
Bea Goad’s 100th birthday is just another day
By Craig Reed
Bea Goad says her 2017 birthday was no big deal. The Oakridge resident turned 100 on July 27, but didn’t get too excited about the century mark.
“July 27th was just like the 26th and just like the 28th,” Bea says. “I didn’t feel any older, I didn’t feel any better.”
She did admit there was an important reason to reach the milestone, but she says it was more about others than about herself: Bea did not want to disappoint the many people planning her birthday party.
“I didn’t want to spoil the fun everybody was planning to have at a big party,” she says.
There was a party, and Bea was the center of attention. She says the highlight of the event was not her birthday, but being able to visit with her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Bea did hope to reach 100 years to be the longest living member of her family. She had a cousin live to age 98 and another cousin and an aunt live to 94.
Even at 100, Bea is independent. She lives alone in a one-story house in Oakridge. She does her own cooking and housekeeping. Outside, she waters her many plants and flowers.
Bea says she still drives, mainly on the backstreets of Oakridge, but has two nearby friends, Sandy Nixon and Sandy Henderson, who help her with transportation, running errands and shopping.
“Without those two Sandys, I’d be in bad shape,” Bea says with a chuckle.
Bea moved to Oakridge shortly after her husband of 41 years, Vern, died in 1979. Her son, Thomas, and a granddaughter both lived there.
Eugene was also getting bigger andbusier, and Bea says she believed she could be more independent in a
small town.
“I’m able to go to church, the post office, city hall, the grocery store without having to get on Highway 58, unless I have to go to the pharmacy,” Bea says.
She stays busy playing several card games a week and working the daily crossword puzzle in the newspaper. The card group contributes $1 each time they play. With some other financial donations, it presented four $600 scholarships to local students this year.
Bea says highlights of her life are her family, a road trip across the United States to Washington, D.C., and a fewtrips to Europe. On her 75th birthday, she went on a helicopter ride over Spokane, Washington, and on her 80th birthday, she went up in a hot air balloon.
“She has had a life well lived,” says Thomas. “That is one thing she has done for sure.”
Bea has no expectations for the future.
“I’ve enjoyed every minute of it,” Bea says of her life. “I’m very contented with where I’m at right now. There’s no use planning anything because at my age it might not work out. I just take it day by day. Every day is a blessing from the good Lord.
