Questioning the Locals | Evelyn Henninger

The world has changed a lot since 1906. What’s one thing you’re sorry has changed?

WHO: Evelyn Henninger, 103 years old (born in 1906)
WHAT: Formerly a bookkeeper for her and her husband’s wholesale distributing business
LIVES: Randall Park Neighborhood in Eau Claire since 1973
IN THE CITY FOR: 73 years (she lived in Shawtown from 1937-73)

Do you know anyone in Eau Claire who’s older than you? I don’t. There may be someone, I suppose. We just celebrated a 100th birthday at our church, so there’s getting to be more and more old people. … I remember asking my mother, when I was young, “what are those brown spots on grandma’s hands?” And I was shushed and she never answered me. We just didn’t talk about certain things, and now, we say what we wanna. 

How do you feel about Wisconsin winters? I love the winters. Because that’s all I know. Back when I was a kid, you never heard of anyone going south for the winter. If you were here, you stayed here. And people were starting to buy cars, but they had to jack them up and take the battery out, and the car was laid up ‘til spring. None of the roads were plowed out. Driving was always at the expense of the weather. If it rained, well … then we had mud.

I hear you were a snowshoeing trailblazer of sorts. Can you tell me about that? I was the first one in Eau Claire who was out on snowshoes. They weren’t available around here, but my daughter ordered them from a company in Vermont. I liked to walk in virgin snow, and that took me out in the woods, alone. ... There weren’t any warming houses or trails. A few years ago my oldest grandson said, “grandma, you’re done snowshoeing.” Well, he was right, of course. I had no business being out there. And by that time they had trails, and you weren’t necessarily alone. Now everyone has everything fixed for them. I liked to go out and make my own trails.

What TV shows do you like to watch? I love Jeopardy. I can usually answer the questions, but not quick enough! Boy, they answer right away. My answers wouldn’t count! There are some questions on there that people don’t know because they’re too young. There was one the other day that asked “What is the other name for rhubarb?” And nobody on Jeopardy – none of the three – knew what that was. It’s pie plant. And that’s all anyone ever called it when I was growing up.

You bake your neighbors cookies every so often. I know this because I live upstairs and reap the benefits. Why? It just comes natural to me to share. (shrugs)

What was your education like? I had an excellent basic education in grade school. I went to a state-graded school, so it was a step above a one-room schoolhouse. … We had two rooms! I can add, subtract, multiply, divide, I can do fractions, you name it. We memorized the Gettysburg Address, and the Salute to the Flag, and work by early American authors and oh, Hawthorne and Edgar Allen Poe, and … now I guess they don’t want people to memorize things anymore. ... I was the only one from my 8th grade class to go on to high school. Eau Claire has very good schools, and school is all-important.

What place in town considers you a “regular?” I go to church at Grace Lutheran, and I always walk. Although, this winter, for the first time, I’ve had rides to church, because we’ve had such a bad winter with all the freezing rain and drizzle; it’s hard to walk on the sidewalks. Sometimes I’d walk in the street, because it was cleared out first. I also go to the senior center every Wednesday. They serve a dinner there, at noon … and a lot of people come to play cards. I go to a knitting and crocheting class.

The world has changed a lot since 1906. What’s one thing you’re sorry has changed? We are absolutely dependent on energy, and on somebody or something else to live. If the power goes out, we can’t do anything; we can’t continue living until we get it fixed. You are absolutely helpless; you can’t do one thing, and I never liked that idea.

Anything surprising about your past? After my husband died, I spent 31 summers on the Missisippi River – alone. And I had a boat, and a houseboat. And oh, I loved it there.
Be honest: Borders or the library? The library has volunteers, and they bring me books every third week. I don’t care about owning books – I don’t have to own it. I don’t have to own anything to like it or enjoy it. I just like to be acquainted with all these things. Salinger just died, you know, and I never read Catcher in the Rye. I’m going to request the book next time they come around.

Any time-earned wisdom you’d like to share? We all have things – money or shoes or cars – I don’t care what you have. It might be something you admire, like honesty … generosity … political views, and Christianity is in there, too. … It isn’t, mainly, the idea of having it – it’s what you do with it. What you do with what you have – that’s what counts. Education is easier to obtain nowadays. ... And that’s fine. But it’s not going to do any good unless they use to their advantage what they’ve learned. That’s what separates the sheep from the goats. Some have very little, but it’s entirely up to the individual what they make of something.