Utah Centenarians Share Wisdom on How to Enjoy Life and Take It as It Comes

Irva Sudweeks, from Kingston, is pretty sharp for a 105-year-old.

Irva is one of 145 centenarians, or people who live past 100, in Utah, and the only one in Piute County. And she just celebrated her 105th birthday in January.

When you first meet Irva, you might be a little surprised to find that she is over 100 years old. She doesn’t look a day past 70, and her memory is sharper than 99% of people regardless of age. Then again, most people probably have not met many 105-year-olds in their lives.

According to the Population Division of the United Nations, there were only about 90,000 centenarians in the United States in 2021. That’s 0.027% of the population.

A lot of people when they think of 100-year-olds want to know the secret to living so long, but for most Utah centenarians, they have a different approach. It’s more about enjoying life for what it is.

On an afternoon with a centenarian, you might get some wisdom and a little joking and a hard time. After you sit and talk with them for a minute, the stories come out.

‘Things Were Different Then’

Some of their stories might surprise you.

For example, many of these people were born in the 1920s, and did not even have cars when they were young! 

“Once as a teenager, (Irva) and a friend decided to attend a dance,” Irva’s page reads in the 2023 Utah Centenarians Yearbook. Like others in less-developed Utah in the early 1900s, Irva’s family did not have a car at the time, so Irva and her friend “rode a horse, carrying suitcases and coats. The idea was to hit the main road and get a ride with the mail truck.”

Unfortunately, the horse made its way toward the granary instead, not the way that Irva and her friend wanted to go, and they had quite the adventure that night after missing the mail truck. “Things were different then,” Irva said.

But some things remain the same. Irva says she has drunk so much Diet Coke she could get paid for it. “The only medication I take is Diet Coke. I should really be paid money from the Diet Coke Company for all the advertising I give them,” she said.

Elizabeth “Betty” Bailey, who is 102 this year, also enjoys a Coke every day. Her mother was a good cook and, as a small child, Betty remembers walking down to her dad’s butcher shop to get meat for the noonday meal.

Like you might see still today, Betty met her husband on a blind date. When she opened the door, he asked, “Where are you?” He was surprised to find her a foot shorter than himself.

‘Keep Plugging Away’

Betty, who lost her husband after a car crash that also left her blinded in one eye, said to “keep plugging away despite what comes your way. As you age, graciously accept help. Don’t compare yourself to anyone else.”

Mildred Alene Dunn Barlow, who is turning 103 this year, would likely agree. “Let each phase of your life be the best time to live,” she said. “Count your blessings and always have a good attitude.”

Mildred learned how to love people from serving in different capacities all over the world. She has met many, many people of different cultures and backgrounds. Her first reaction is just to love and serve everyone.

That positive attitude, humor and tendency to love seems to be a common strain among Utah centenarians — more common than knowing the answer to living so long.

When Ralph Porter Frandsen, who died in December 2019 at the age of 103, was asked the secret to living past 100, he didn’t have a good answer. “It’s still a secret and I don’t know the answer, other than healthy living, keeping active and staying positive,” he said.

Ralph’s family wrote in his obituary that he had a sense of humor to the end.

Enjoy Life

So how do Utah centenarians stay positive and in good humor right past the ripe old age of 100? That question can be answered by how they live.

Many have been through some really difficult things in their lives. Irva has lost two husbands, one who was pretty young. Betty has lived through cancer and a horrible car crash. Most had immediate families who were affected by the Spanish Flu, both World Wars, and the Great Depression.

What makes all that living worth it?

Irva just keeps watching the Utah Jazz with her binoculars, dressing to the nines in dangly metal jewelry and reading daily. And she might be trying to live until the Jazz win a championship!

According to a few of her 22 grandkids and 87 great-grandkids, many of whom are now adults themselves, Grandma Irva is adventurous, spicy, argumentative, loving and really smart.

“Her memory is insane,” said Clint Sudweeks, one of Irva’s grandsons who spends a good amount of time with her. “She can still tell stories about everything from her childhood. She can still read a book in one or two days. She can still recite poems. It’s crazy.”

Indeed, Irva can recite Patrick Henry’s famous “Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death” speech by memory. She also still cares a lot about what is going on in the world, and she loves to give her grandkids a hard time.

Find the People Who Make You Happy

“Grandma actually likes arguing with me,” Clint said. “Everybody else just gives her loves all day long. I think she gets tired of that. She likes a good argument.”

“She loves to give me a hard time!” laughed Brecklyn Brindley, Irva’s great-granddaughter. Brecklyn always feels special when Irva compares her to her grandpa. “Her son Dude was my grandpa, and she always says how much I look like him, which means so much since he passed when I was a year old. I have some very fond memories at her house!”

Despite her spicy, argumentative personality, Irva’s grandkids know it’s all in good humor, and she does it in addition to telling them she loves them.

“You can tell how much she loves her family,” Brecklyn said.

The most important thing that Brecklyn learned from Grandma Irva is to find the people who make you happy. In her 105 years of life, Irva is a good example of that.

– by Abbie Call

Feature image caption: Irva Sudweeks at her 105th birthday celebration with family. January 27, 2024. Courtesy of Brecklyn Brindley.

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