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Southwest Side Teacher Still Going At Nearly 100

CHICAGO (CBS) -- A Southwest Side teacher will soon celebrate a milestone birthday.

As WBBM Newsradio's Bernie Tafoya reports, teacher Olivia Neubauer is now 99 years old, and she turns 100 in 2 1/2 weeks.

LISTEN: WBBM Newsradio's Bernie Tafoya reports

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But to this day, she teaches at Ashburn Lutheran School, 3345 W. 83rd St. She has been teaching at the school since it opened in 1963, and she had 16 years' teaching experience before that.

Neubauer also stayed home with her two children until they were school age.

So did she ever think she would still be teaching at the age of 100?

"No," she said. "But I've enjoyed it."

Neubauer teaches reading to pre-kindergartners and kindergartners, and works until noon most days.

"They really are just darling," she said. "They're so cute."

Neubauer says her 65-year-old son and 60-year-old daughter wish she would retire. But don't look for that to happen.

"If I had my choice, I'd just come back," she said.

What does she get out of continuing to teach?

"I don't have to sit and watch TV all the time," she joked.

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