Clark County Press, Neillsville, WI

August 31, 1967, Front Page

Contact: Dolores Mohr Kenyon

From Oxen to Astronauts

 ‘Grandma’ Amelia Bemis Celebrates her 99^th Birthday

Grandma Bemis at 99!

Mrs. Amelia (Grandma) Bemis, long-time Humbird resident whose life covers the span from oxen to astronauts, celebrated her 99^th birthday in Memorial Hospital here Tuesday.

The word "celebrated" is used advisedly. An editor normally chooses such a word as "observes" for an occasion involving one of so many years, because they are usually more sedate. But, somehow, the word "celebrate" seems more appropriate for this lively, keen-minded dowager now a scant 363 days from the century mark.

"Grandma" Bemis - that’s what everyone (and we mean everyone) calls her—passed the birthday in her room at Memorial hospital where she has been confined since she fractured a hip bone in a fall in her Humbird home three years ago.  Nurses of Memorial Hospital, with whom she is a great favorite, marked the day with a party; a number of friends dropped in to visit and wish her well; and her daughter, Mrs. Lola Dimmitt of Norfolk, Va., was on had with Mr. Dimmitt.  Other area relatives also stopped to see this alert lady whose every physical aspect belies 99 summers.

Knits mittens

On her birthday, Grandma Bemis knitted a pair of mittens, the kind that used to keep the kids’ hands warm as toast when they spent the whole day long out in the cold of a Wisconsin winter.  Knitting and crocheting are the things that occupy her hands during these long days of confinement.  She has always knitted or so it seems.  Mrs. Dimmitt recalls that when she and the other five children were small, Grandma used to read to them from story books and knit at the same time.

"I don’t have to watch what I’m knitting," injected Grandma.

That doesn’t mean, however, that her eyes have failed. Far from it!  She still can read if she desires; but she no longer does much reading.

"I’m afraid it would affect my sight," she explained.

Acute Hearing

Unlike many older people who find their hearing slipping as the years advance, Grandma appears to have an acute ear.  The writer has interviewed others, octogenarians and older, with whom it was practically impossible to carry on a conversation because of their hearing.  No so with Grandma Bemis.  One speaks to her in an ordinary tone of voice and she doesn’t miss a word.

Recalling the time when Grandma Bemis used to read to her and other children of the family, Mrs. Dimmitt was asked whether she might now turn the tables and read occasionally to Grandma.  "Goodness, I would if she wanted me to," replied Mrs. Dimmitt.

"We don’t have time." Grandma filled in.  "When we get together, we’re too busy talking."

There are three other children of Mrs. Bemis living. The oldest daughter, Ina, is deceased.  Living are: Earl Bemis of Neillsville; Clayton of Newaygo, Mich.; Percy, who is on the home farm a mile and one-half from Humbird; and Mrs. Dimmitt, who makes yearly trips here from her home in Norfolk.

38 Great-Grandchildren

In all, Grandma has 15 grandchildren, 38 great-grandchildren and two great-great-grandchildren.

Grandma was born August 29, 1868, in Clintonville - four years after the end of the Civil War.  She offered to produce a birth certificate to prove the date, which is unusual.  Mostly vital statistics were recorded in a hap-hazard manner that long ago, especially in a frontier community like Clintonville of those days.

Her parents were the late Mr. and Mrs. Jedulah Umphrey Church.  Her father’s name is unusual.  I fact, Mrs. Bemis says the only other place in which she knows the name being used is in the Bible, where (she says, we didn’t look it up) it is used only once. She has never known or heard of another individual carrying that name.

Four Days Short

Grandma Bemis married the late Walter Bemis, in Clintonville, on July 20, 1890.  He was a head sawyer, and in the early years the family moved around a bit. They lived for three years in Plainview, Minn., and for another three years in Michigan.  Finally, in 1900 they settled down on a farm near Humbird, which Grandma called "home" ever since.  Walter died July 16, 1955, just four days before their 65^th wedding anniversary.

Asked the inevitable question (to what do you attribute your long life?) Grandma gave this answer:

"Hard work! Hard work and a strong constitution."

"She always was helping everybody else," recalled Mrs. Dimmitt.

She assisted as a midwife, presiding over an uncounted number of births in early days; assisted the ill of the community as a practical nurse; and even helped the undertaker in the area.  On a couple of occasions, she recalled, she even conducted burial rites without the aid of a professional undertaker or a minister.

Will Grandma Bemis reach her 100^th birthday?  Well, that’s in the lap of ‘Someone up above.’  But, if outward appearance and actions are good for judgment, she’ll pass that one a year from now with flying colors.

(Transcriber’s note: Sorry the photo was not good for copying, but she is sitting there in bed, knitting at 99.)