December 18, 2019 – Barton, WI – A happy 109th birthday to Clara Moll of Barton. Moll was busy finishing lunch with her family and she was accepting birthday wishes. Clara is looking as fit as ever. She couldn’t stick around for the chatting at in the kitchen as she grabbed her walker to make a couple laps around the house.
“I have no pain,” said Moll as she did laps with her walker up and down the hall and making a sweeping turn through the kitchen.
”I’m not going to be bedridden,” she said with spunk.
Clara visited the doctor this week and they presented her with a carrot cake.
Below is a picture of Clara, on the right, and her older sister Martha. The photo is believe to be from 1918 when Clara was 8 years old.
Below is Clara’s birthday story from 2017.
Dec. 21, 2017 – How often can you say that you sang the “Happy Birthday song” to someone who turned 107 years old.
This week in a cozy farmhouse in Barton, Clara Moll celebrated her 107th birthday. She was born in 1910, right after the coffee filter and paper cups were invented.
“Exercise is what keeps you young,” said Clara. She was making a couple laps in the dining room area. Thick white shoes, long strides and an aluminum walker for balance.
Clara bragged that at 107 she didn’t need glasses but she admitted her hearing was going…. or gone, but it didn’t seem to matter.
At 107 she was still loving life. “I’ve lost my taste buds….,” she said. Her daughter Mary, her primary caretaker, said that had been going on the past few months.
A big wicker basket full of birthday cards sat on the kitchen table. It was surrounded by sweet rolls wrapped in clear plastic bags, daily prayer books, and the latest edition of the Wall Street Journal.
“I’m going to live until 110,” said Clara confidently as she clumped with her walker into the kitchen.
Mary said that declaration can change. “Most often… we’re just taking it one day at a time.”
Below are some of the articles I’ve written about Clara over the years.
Dec. 18, 2015 – Clara Moll turns 105 and Happy 105th birthday Clara Moll.
“The biggest thing that’s changed on this block is the makeup of the family,” Moll said. “My husband died when he was 74 and he said, ‘Clara you watch, when women all go to work there will be nobody home to cook and there will be nobody home for the kids; you’re going to have hard times.’” Animated, Moll points out the window from house to house to house announcing she has dubbed the block “Divorce Street.”
Clara Moll is a pip! On Sunday, Dec. 18 the life-long Barton gal turned 106 years old.
She celebrated with family and friends. Pizza, her favorite, was the supper of choice.
We prayed and passed a plate.
Clara reminisced. She was prompted by her daughter Mary. “Remember in 1976 when you took advantage of the Greyhound Bus offer… 99 days for $99?”
Clara remembered. She traveled the U.S. and saw all her relatives. “Don’t get married,” she advised. “Travel.”
Meantime the group at the party tried to recollect where the Greyhound stops were in West Bend; the consensus was on S. Main Street in front of the Centrum building and outside George Webbs in the West Bend Plaza.
Clara touted “exercise” as the secret to longevity. She wore out roller skates and proclaimed she would “rather dance than eat.”
Happy birthday Clara