Today, my grandmother, Elgene Lund, turns 101.
Let that number settle in for a moment. One hundred and one.
Elgene was born on May 23, 1924, in Chisago City, Minnesota, into a world very different from the one we know today. Her family didn’t have much—money was scarce, life was hard—but she grew up surrounded by the strength of community and the quiet resolve that comes from living through lean years.
Even as a child, she felt a pull to care for others. Nursing wasn’t just a career for her—it was a calling. She has lived her life in service of that call, always tending to others, always thinking about what someone else might need. That hasn’t changed, even now, at 101. Caregiving is simply in her bones. Even when she is the one being cared for – so much thanks to my aunt who is her fulltime caregiver – her mind is on others. Who has a birthday coming up? Who needs a meal? What holiday cards do we need to be thinking about? (Yes, she mails greeting cards for every holiday.)
She and my grandfather – the late Professor Doniver Lund – raised four children in a modest home on the corner of Jefferson and 7th in St. Peter, Minnesota. She worked as a school nurse at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter for many years – the same college where her husband, my grandfather, taught history. Her house was an anchor in the tightest-knit neighborhood I know, Valley View. When my mom and her siblings were growing up, Valley View was a place where kids always played outside, where every mom had a Band-Aid and a chocolate chip cookie, where impromptu picnics in a neighbor’s backyard were a regular occurrence.
Everything about the house at 705 Valley View Road was just as Grandma wanted it – or would be just as she wanted it, as soon as she could find the time to get out a paintbrush, convince her husband to wash the windows or needle one of her children to pull the weeds. Her house was full of warmth, hard work, and a little (okay, a lot of) Scandinavian stubbornness—the same qualities that define Elgene herself. Aside from summer forays to distant places like Spearfish, SD, and Orange, NJ, where my grandfather taught summer classes, my grandma has never lived outside Minnesota.
I suspect Minnesota has never quite been the same without her imprint.
My grandma is tough as nails. Stubborn as nails, too. We almost lost her two years ago to an infection. But, when a palliative care nurse showed up in her hospital room, she snapped awake and said, “What is she doing here? I not ready to die!”
Two years later, we celebrate her – and her tremendous mark OVER the centurion line.
You don’t make it to 101 without a little grit—and Grandma has it in spades.
Just think of what she has lived through:
— She was five when the stock market crashed in 1929.
— She was a teenager during World War II.
— She witnessed the invention of the television, the moon landing, and the first heart transplant. The first commercial microwave was introduced when she was 21.
— Tupperware came on the scene in 1946. The very idea of food storage changed during her adulthood.
— She raised her children before disposable diapers were common.
— She saw civil rights marches, the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the dawn of the internet.
— She lived through rotary phones, landlines, flip phones, and now video calls with great-grandchildren.
— She’s seen 19 presidents, the evolution of women’s rights, and the world change faster than anyone could have predicted.
And through it all, she has remained: deeply compassionate and quietly mighty.
At 101, she is not just a witness to history—she is living history. She is the thread that ties our family’s past to our present, the one we look to when we want to remember where we come from and what really matters.
Your story matters, too.
As I celebrate my grandmother today, I can’t help but think about all the untold stories we carry—memories, lessons, turning points. The ordinary moments that shaped us. The people who made us who we are.
If you’ve ever felt the urge to write your story, or even just wondered where to begin, I’d love to invite you to join me for a one-hour webinar:
Telling Our Life Stories
🗓️ Saturday, May 31 |
⏰ 9–10 a.m. MT / 11 a.m.–Noon ET
Stories are all around us. We hear them. We read them. We tell them.
What stories fill your family? What stories are important to preserve? What stories do you want – need – to live on?
In Telling Our Life Stories, we’ll explore the power of story, learn how to preserve and share memories of the past, and reflect on why our stories matter. You’ll leave with tools, inspiration, and a game plan to begin bringing your story to life.
Because one day—if we’re lucky—someone might write about us the way I get to write about my Grandma Elgene.
Register for Telling Our Life Stories
Happy birthday, Grandma. Today, we celebrate YOU – the amazing, mighty, determined woman you are, and the heart that has touched countless others in ways you know and ways you can’t even imagine. You, at 101, are an inspiration.
