It’s been nearly two years since Elna Pein lived in the yellow house with the neatly groomed grass on SW 8th Avenue in Oak Harbor.
She lived in the house for 33 years and mowed the lawn herself even as she approached her 102nd birthday.
Pein still keeps an eye on the place, paying particularl attention to the length of the grass.
She now lives at the Summer Hill Assisted Living Community, where Wednesday she celebrated her 103rd birthday with staff, other residents, her son and her daughter-in-law.
It was a joyous occasion on every account. Just over the back fence, she could see just how nicely the yard of her old house is being kept up.
Her granddaughter lives there now.
“Yes, that was her house right there,” said Heidi Kuzina, the facility’s director of community outreach, motioning toward the window of the dining hall. “She was mowing her lawn a year ago.”
Pein moved into the assisted living center just across the fence about 15 months ago and was soon grabbing for a rake, taking it upon herself to help with the grounds.
It’s all part of staying busy “working,” something she attributes to her longevity.
“I took care of kids most of my life,” Pein said.
Pein grew up on an 80-acre farm in Mount Vernon, Ill., the youngest of five siblings. She moved to Indianapolis when she was 19, where she took a job at a factory running a riveting machine and met the man she would marry.
George Pein and his bride moved to Phoenix, Ariz., where she began working in food service while he started his own contracting business installing gym floors. When her husband died in 1964, Elna Pein continued raising their son by herself in Phoenix, eventually retired from her job and took another as a nanny.
It wasn’t until 1982 that she moved to Oak Harbor to be near her son, Don Pein, who had relocated there for work.
In Oak Harbor, Elna Pein has babysat her grandchildren, volunteered at the senior center and taught Sunday School to toddlers at Oak Harbor Southern Baptist Church until two years ago.
Don Pein, 64, said his mom remains active, continuing to travel to watch her great granddaughter play select fastpitch with the Skagit Valley Thunder. Maddie Johnson is one of four great grandchildren.
“Wherever she is, she goes,” Don said.
But Don Pein won’t attribute his mom’s longevity entirely to her busy ways.
“I think it’s her genes,” Don said, adding that she had one sister who lived to be 103 and had two other siblings live to be in their 90s.
Summer Hill turned the occasion into a festive one in the dining, announcing the birthday to applause in the dining room before cutting into a cake.
Elna Pein wondered what the big deal was about.
“I don’t think anything about it,” she said. “I’m just living day to day.
“It’s no big deal.”
She kept telling everyone how much trouble they would be in for placing her in the spotlight. No one was exempt.
“That’s just mom,” Don said. “I’ll be in trouble later.”
The staff at Summer Hill has been amazed by Pein’s energy, sharp wit and determination. They know to pay special attention to the lawn and any stray clippings or leaves.
“We’re lucky to have her with us,” executive director Leslie Burns said.
“You should see her with a rake,” Kuzina said. “She goes out there. And when nobody’s out there, she comes in and says, ‘I’ve got to have a helper. I can’t do this alone. It takes two people to get these leaves out of there.’ She goes out all the time.”
