Carol Stream Woman Turns 104
CAROL STREAM, Ill. (CBS) -- When Ruth Smith was born, Theodore Roosevelt was president and World War I was still seven years off.
As WBBM Newsradio 780's Regine Schlesinger reports, on Thursday, the Carol Stream woman celebrates her 104th birthday.
Smith says when she was a girl growing up in Ohio, the world was a much different place.
"No cars. Nothing to ride in, only horse and buggies," she said.
In fact, Smith never did learn to drive.
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She remembers a world with no electricity or indoor plumbing. She has lived through two world wars and a string of smaller conflicts.
Smith worked for years as a stenographer, a job she says has been made obsolete by technological advances.
Smith was married for 60 years, raised two daughters, and is a grandmother of six and great-grandmother of 15.
How does it feel to turn 104?
"It doesn't seem like 104 to me. I get along, I get around; do what I want to do," she said.
Smith will be surrounded by her family as she celebrates her very long life at the Carol Stream retirement home where she lives.
