Education is most important, oldest person advises pupils

Children wanted to know the world's oldest person's favorite flavor of ice cream.
By MARALINE KUBIK
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
NORTH LIMA -- Charlotte Benkner, who will celebrate her 114th birthday Sunday, said Friday she doesn't understand what all the fuss is about.
"It's just another birthday," the world's oldest person said after making her way through the crowded room with the help of a walker to a chair facing rows of reporters and schoolchildren.
"I'm overwhelmed that so many people came out for my birthday." Smiling, she added, "It would be so nice if it were sweet 16. I'd have a lovely time."
In her lifetime, Benkner has gone from lighting her home with candles and oil lamps to electricity, from washing clothes on a washboard to pushing a button on a washing machine, from traveling by horse and ocean freighter to automobiles and airplanes.
She remembers the first car to drive along New York City streets -- she chased after it shouting "Get a horse!" -- the invention of tea bags, plastic and electric refrigerators.
She was born the year President Benjamin Harrison opened unoccupied Indian lands in Oklahoma to white settlers -- the same year Montana, Washington state and the Dakotas joined the union.
On politics
Benkner remembers the women's suffrage movement and has proudly voted in every election since the 19th Amendment was passed, giving women the right to vote.
"We still bring her absentee ballots," said Mary O'Hare of Boardman, Benkner's niece by marriage.
A staunch Republican, Benkner made it clear she doesn't like President Bush as much as she liked his father. If she had a chance to meet him -- like she did with President Theodore Roosevelt -- she'd tell George W. to be more like his dad.
Roger Herrmann, executive vice president of Glenellen Senior Suites and Villas, where Benkner resides with her 99-year-old sister, Tillie O'Hare, invited the younger Bush to Benkner's birthday party Sunday but he hasn't heard if the president plans to attend.
Smartly dressed in a blue print dress, white sweater and invisible hairnet with tiny seed pearls, Benkner answered questions from reporters and the children at length, noticeably enjoying the 28 fifth-, sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders from Boardman Center Middle School who presented her with a basket of goodies -- stuffed animals and 800 hand-made birthday cards.
Her 13-year-old great-great-nephew, Kevin O'Hare of Boardman, was among the children huddled around Benkner's feet. He expects to live to be "110 or 115," the seventh-grader said. After all, longevity is in his family's genes.
Advice for pupils
Benkner told the children about building bonfires in the evenings when she was a girl and baking potatoes in the coals. She also told them, "Education is the most, most important thing. With education, you can do anything and go anywhere."
Ryan Holmes, a 14-year-old eighth-grader, stood next to Benkner, carefully directing a plethora of questions toward the hearing aid in her left ear.
"What's your favorite food?" the boy asked.
"My favorite time is dinner and I can eat chicken five days a week," Benkner responded.
"I like ketchup. What about you? Do like ketchup?" Ryan continued.
"Yes! But not on ice cream," she replied.
"What's your favorite flavor of ice cream?"
"Strawberry."
"I like chocolate," the boy said.
"Lots of people do," Benkner said, nodding her head.
"Do you remember the Titanic?"
"Yes, I do."
"What happened?" Ryan asked.
"It hit an iceberg and sank," she said very matter-of-factly.
"What do you think about 9/11, the twin towers?"
"I think it was awful -- I'll never forget that. It was as bad as the Titanic."
"I like your dress," Ryan said, as one of the teachers instructed the children to say goodbye and head for the bus.
"That's nice," Benkner replied. "It's always nice to be liked."
"Happy birthday," several children shouted.
"I'm glad you were here. I'm sorry I can't see you," she said.
Benkner suffers from macular degeneration and most days can only see shadows.
Referring to the well wishes for her birthday, Benkner said, "I'll remember that Sunday morning."
Reporters were more interested in learning the secret to Benkner's living so long.
"There is no secret," she said. "I just live each day the way the Lord gives it to me."
kubik@vindy.com