100 years and counting: Three women reflect on more than a century of memories

By Steve Van Kooten

Every person has a story enriched by the experiences they’ve had, the people they’ve met and the obstacles they’ve overcome. For three ladies who reside at the Prairie Maison, their stories surely have a deep repository of all three since they have each passed the 100-year mark.

Gean Hagen, born on May 1, 1920, sat in the commons area at the Prairie Maison, her back straighter than people a fraction of her age, as she talked about growing up in the Midwest during the Roaring Twenties.

“My father died just as I was born, so I didn’t know what it was like to have a father,” she said. “My mother raised me, and she was a very mature woman. After my father died, my mother had to find a suitable job to take care of my siblings and me.”

Hagen moved with her family to Iowa, where her mother encouraged her lifelong passion for the piano.“Mother started my sister and me at three years old to play the piano at a music school in Newton, Iowa,” she recalled.

Hagen said she prefers to play gospel music and enjoys talking to children about their schooling.

Before finishing her own school career, she made a trip to Europe, which she remembers fondly.

“When I was a junior in high school, I won a trip to Europe. I went overseas. The country I liked the most was Scotland; it’s a beautiful country. What I liked best was its beauty.”

Next to her, Antoinette “Toni” Kann, born March 11, 1925, sat curled up in her chair, listening and gesticulating with her hands.

Kann grew up around Marquette, Iowa, and went to school at the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls to pursue a degree in art. She also enriched her education in Des Moines, Iowa, and in Wisconsin.

After college, she taught school. “I’ve been teaching since I was 21 years old.”

Her favorite type of art included painting “nice big, beautiful landscapes.”

On the other side of Kann, Geraldine Knowles, born June 3, 1921, eagerly waited to talk — they call her a “spitfire,” and she lived up to that reputation.“I’m slowing down day by day, and I never know if I have tomorrow, so I want to be prepared to stand before the Lord to give an account of my life,” she said.

Knowles’ faith is an important part of her story, and many of the pivotal points that changed her life revolved around her love for Jesus.

“I went to the Lutheran Church for the first 20 years of my life,” she said. “Then a little girl across the street named Marjorie said that wasn’t enough. She said, You have to read your Bible every day.”

Growing up, she had the benefit of living in a multi-generational household and, by her own admission, got spoiled by her older siblings and other family members.

“I always liked attention, and I got it because my grandmother lived with us, and she gave me her full attention. I was a very happy child. Spoiling isn’t the worst thing that can happen to you,” she said.

Knowles wrote a poem called “Another Day,” which is based on Psalm 118:24, “This is the day the Lord has made,” and is displayed at the Prairie Maison.

“Another day your miracles I see, another day to mold me into what I ought to be” 

- ‘Another Day,” by Geraldine Knowles

So, what secrets can these ladies divulge to other people eyeing the triple digits?“The main thing in life is to know the Lord Jesus as your Lord and savior, not Christianity,” said Knowles. “People think they can go to this church or that church, but you can go to any church all of your life and miss it.”

“I don’t have a secret,” said Hagen.

But she did have some advice for those aspiring to cross the century mark: “Live in a quiet atmosphere. Eat lots of good food, especially watermelon,” said Kann. “Don’t eat the seeds!”

And what happens if you eat the seeds? 

“You turn into a bony, phony guy,” she said. “Is that what you want to be, a bony, phony guy?”