MEDIA CONTACT: Susan Feinberg
561-297-4194, sfeinbe4@fau.edu
BOCA RATON, FL (December 27, 2006) - With the arrival of a new year, Mary Laura McConnaughy will embrace the event with the same joy that she has the last 105 new years. Laura, as she has been called all her life, was born on April 4, 1900. She is 106 years old.
When Laura was born the world was a much different place than today. Women wore long skirts and high button shoes. The nation’s population was 76,300,000 compared to today’s 300,446,178. When she was a toddler, President McKinley was assassinated, and Teddy Roosevelt assumed the presidency; Henry Ford founded the Ford Motor Company; and Orville and Wilbur Wright took their first test flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. When Laura was four, the United States hosted its first Olympics at the St. Louis Exposition. Oklahoma, the 46th state, would not become a state for another three years.
Always an elegant lady, Laura, prefers not to discuss her age. “People treat you differently when they know how old you are. They think you aren’t capable of doing things,” she explained.
A former teacher, Laura can still do simple math. In addition to good genes, Laura’s loved ones will tell you that her always positive attitude and joy of life has a lot to do with her longevity. Her favorite saying - “The sun will come up tomorrow no matter how bad it is today,” a motto that she has lived by all her life.
When Laura and her late husband, a department store executive, left Ohio to retire to Boca Raton in the early 1960’s, they were one of the first to build a home in the Royal Palm Yacht and Country Club. Laura was an avid golfer and a consummate hostess, she loved cooking for their friends and having cocktail parties, luncheons and dinners. She enjoyed all the country club activities and especially playing bridge.
Nowadays, Laura visits her new club, Florida Atlantic University’s Louis and Anne Green Memory and Wellness Center, a center dedicated to providing caring and innovative therapeutic services and programs for individuals with memory disorders and their care givers. She enjoys lunch and social activities. Still very sociable, Laura enjoys visiting with the other participants. Her favorite activities are the sing-a-longs.
“You can always hear Laura loud and strong. She really enjoys participating in the sing a-longs. She is always a joy to have with us,” said Barbara Curtis, the Adult Day Center manager for the Louis and Anne Green Memory and Wellness Center.
Laura has one son, four grandchildren, four great grandchildren, and lots of friends at the Louis and Anne Green Memory and Wellness Center to help her welcome in her 106th new year.
For more information on the Louis and Anne Green Memory and Wellness Center, call 561-297-0502.
- FAU -
