MARYSVILLE — If Shaklee nutrition company wants to document its success, they should visit Margaret Kime.
She’s been taking their products for almost 50 years. Kime swears by Vivix, an anti-aging tonic.
She is 99 years old.
Her husband, Ed, 91, lives down her hallway at Madeline Villa in Marysville. Kime said she has outlived two sons and has no one else to care for her.
It was great to see her again. I wrote about her in 2003.
“Not aging, just marinating” was the headline.
She’s marinated quite well.
Kime still wears her thin hair short, saying it’s easier to take care of. Her health is good, though her eyes are going bad. She wants for nothing and loves Madeline Villa.
“The housework is done,” Kime said. “This is living.”
Her room is sparse, with only a few bits of memorabilia. She won countless blue ribbons at the Evergreen State Fair for machine knitting — after she was 80 years old.
The bulk of the ribbons were donated to Special Olympics.
“Somebody is going to enjoy those ribbons,” she said.
Her hometown is Sultan, where her father worked for the railroad. She said she is the last of the 17 graduates from Sultan High School’s class of 1928.
Ten years ago, the Kimes moved to senior housing in Everett.
She wasn’t going to tip back in a recliner, she said, although she did give up teaching and custom knitting. She made more than 1,200 sweaters by machine through the years.
Kime got busy meeting apartment dwellers from New York, Florida and Tennessee. The job she fashioned for herself was that of a social director.
She said if you wanted to make a friend, just walk the hallways.
At the nursing home, Mark Hinricksen got to know Kime when his mother, Jane Hinricksen, was Kime’s roommate.
“Margaret was a great influence on her,” Mark Hinricksen said.
His mother recovered from a fall and has since left the nursing home.
Mark Hinricksen said he enjoyed Kime’s long memory, including stories from World War I. When Kime was a youngster and her father worked the railroad telegraph, he was the first person in town to know the war had ended.
Hinricksen said Kime made him laugh for hours with her stories.
“She’s sharp as a tack,” he said.
Kime’s humor is delightful.
“At age 25, you have a lot of boyfriends and wonder who will I take?” she said. “At age 58, you wonder what can I get?”
Seven years ago, Kime talked about the benefits of staying active. Not so active these days, she isn’t interested in going on group outings or shopping.
“Shopping isn’t my thing,” she said. “I haven‘t been to the Everett Mall in 30 years.”
She would travel for one thing — to see an exhibit of glass by Dale Chihuly.
All in all, life is good for this 99-year-old. She savors memories, such as the years she ran a booth at the old three-day Monroe Fair.
She cooked and sold rabbit.
Yes, folks stood in line for rabbit, she said.
Kime said she is content with how much world she saw in her day. She even met her guru, company founder Dr. Forrest C. Shaklee, twice.
Kristi O’Harran: 425-339-3451, oharranheraldnet.com.
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