Edith Wylie celebrates 103 years, reveals her own secrets to longevity

What is the secret to a long, healthy life?

It might just be a daily dose of bourbon and Cheetos. Or it might be genetics. Either way, something is working for Edith Wylie. Last week, she celebrated her 103rd birthday.

Wylie’s daily 5 p.m. glass of bourbon and water with a side of Cheetos started when her children moved out. With an empty nest, Wylie and her husband started having a cocktail with the 5 o’clock news. While daughter Marian Krummel jokes the ritual is Wylie’s secret to smooth aging, Wylie notes she’s not the first woman in her family to live a long life. Both her grandmother and her mother lived well into their 90s. 

“There’s longevity in the family,” Wylie said. “I think I have good genes.”

Wylie was born in Havre on July 28, 1912, and grew up traveling the country thanks to her father and his job with the Great Northern Railroad.

As a child, Wylie and her family would spend their summers in East Glacier, where her uncle owned the mercantile until the 1930s.

Wylie enrolled in the University of Montana in the 30s, studying to become a teacher. She noted women could only study certain fields in that era. For Wylie the choices wer home economics, nursing, secretary skills or teaching. Teaching was the only one that appealed to her. 

“There wasn’t really any choice,” she said. 

Her first teaching job after she graduated in 1934 was at a one-room schoolhouse at Fort Assinniboine, where she had at least one student in each grade level.

She had intended to teach high school but Wylie said at that time, during the Depression, you weren’t picky about job offers. Wylie happened to know the school’s superintendent and he offered her the job.

“Of course I jumped at it,” she said.

Wylie took a break from teaching while she had three children — a son and two daughters. She took advantage of some opportunities to travel, including riding on a cargo plane from Great Falls to California with a group of students. Throughout her life she has traveled around Europe, visiting countries like Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany and France.

When Wylie and her husband, Gus, retired from their careers in education, the couple decided to move to the San Francisco Bay Area to be closer to their children. Before they left, they bought property along Flathead Lake just south of Woods Bay. There they built a home and spent their summers, starting in 1971.

“I said I didn’t want to leave Montana without a piece of it,” Wylie said.

While the couple was living in the Bay Area they decided full-time retirement was boring and the two started managing apartment complexes. When they were ready to retire full time, they left their jobs and were able to spend their whole summers at their home in Bigfork.

Wylie continued to stay active and involved during her time in Bigfork. She belonged to the Bigfork P.E.O. chapter and volunteered at the Bigfork Museum of Art and History.

Though Wylie’s husband died in 1982, she still spends summers in Bigfork along with her daughter. 

Wylie continues to fly by herself between Montana and California, even after turning 100.

“I’ve always been a very independent person,” she said.

She also tries her best to keep up with technology with a Facebook page, a laptop and an e-reader. Recently she was able to sit in a Google self-driving car, though she wasn’t given the opportunity to go for a ride.

Wylie said she wishes they had had some of today’s technology when she was teaching. She said she marvels at what her great granddaughter is learning in just kindergarten.

Wylie has four granddaughters and six great grandchildren as well as lots of friends, all of whom helped her celebrate her birthday. She said they were celebrating for about three weeks.

On her birthday, she had dinner at Showthyme, something she has done since the restaurant opened.

When asked if she has any plans or goals for the next year Wylie replied, “Heavens no, just stay alive.”