10
Monday, December 6.1976
University Daily Kansan
4. 5
Birthday girl . . .
From page one
Her marriage led her to Kansas City, and then to Colorado Springs, which she insists, is in her heart.
"The best part of my life and the most I lived were the first three years of our marriage in Colorado Springs. It was the garden spot of the world to me. Now, everyone wouldn't feel that way, though. The ants (huge ants then stretched their street) were there. Pikes Peak Avenue will be the same with the ants gone."
Bess said she also liked Denver, where she went during horse racing season.
"WE ALWAYS attended the racing season, and even went as far as the Ohio circuit one time. It's no fun, though, unless you bet. And we did not always win, either. But we did, she said, hadn't bet," she said, laying her head back against a crocheted blanket and pillow.
Aside from horse racing, Bess enjoyed dancing.
"I never missed a chance to dance. I dance to anything—guitar, piano, or drums," he said. "Year's dance with a military band from Leavenworth. Say now, if we didn't struc our stuff. My brother and his gal led the group, and my beau were next. It was a fine time."
"I have two favorites," she said. "I don't like to separate them." Holy Clint and Old Man Luke are the favorites.
ALTHOUGH she can no longer dance or listen to music (he hearing aid picks up only clearly spoken words within a foot of her ear), she treasures the songs she grew up with, and keeps them locked in her memory.
Following her husband's death in the early 1920s, Bess came to Lawrence, where she lived at 746 Rhode Island before coming to the nursing home about 14 years ago.
During her first years in Lawrence, Bess said, she stayed active and enjoyed going to the park.
Rock Chalk tryouts for short acts set
Auditions for the 1977 Rock Chalk In-Between Acts will be tomorrow and Wednesday nights from 7 to 11 p.m. in the Templin Hall cafeteria.
Individual acts are asked to try out with a prepared act. Those trying out for singing or dancing parts are asked to bring a prepared song, although music will be available. An accompanist will be provided. Dancers don't need to prepare a dance.
Appointments, which aren't required, can be made by calling 842-2070.
"I went once a week to the picture show always. I like the theatrical events and I had some friends that were involved in them.
"THEY HAD a Bess Jones' Day at the Granada. I had been the best in attendance, so they made me an honorary member. I had my picture taken with the propriator." Wherever Bess went in Lawrence, she took a cab
"I never drove a car. I had one all the time but I kept a Cadillac, a Goddess, a BMW."
Bess said her only recollection about the University of Kansas was one of a campus fire.
"THEME WAS a policeman who walked the University and he died. Well, I guess I got ahead of my story. Anyway, he could fix anything that was broken. When he died there was a piece in the newspaper that said, 'They must have needed something first because they took John.' I knew they were the finest tributes that could go to a person."
Bess has her own tributes—she reached for a five-byeen card stamped with the
Presidential Seal. It read, "Mrs. Ford and I extend to you our warmest congratulations on a very special occasion—your 100th Wife. We sincerely wish you every happiness."
Along with last year's greeting from Ford came a similar card from Congressman Larry Winn. However, the name didn't ring a call for Bess, and she was convinced that Winn was probably some tithorn politician trying to win her vote.
WITH NO remaining family, and no eyesight since 1970, Bess sits and waits for friends to come and bring her news from the outside world. And when no one comes, she reaches in her past, a source of youth that keeps her mind active.
Bess said she especially liked to pass the time by thinking about history.
"I was always interested in history," she
said, "and could repeat the presidents I
remember.
She began to count on her fingers slowly, barely moving her lips.
"One, two, three, four," she whispered, then looked up and out spookily. "I tell you that I have been with you."
WHEN BESS gets tired of serious
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thoughts, she talks kies to herself and others, never failing to laugh at her own
"There was a preacher giving his sermon in a church," she began, "and he told the people that his text was taken from the Epistle. After church, a woman asked the preacher to tell him that he had to say something, so he told her. The Epistle is the wife of the Apotheke."
Bess said that although she couldn't remember as many jokes as she used to, she could still remember many of her favorite works of poetry, another one of her loves.
Bless pumps, then lets out a sigh of satisfaction. She is through talking for awhile. Her 101st birthday party the day before had left her a little worn out.
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Tues., Dec. 7 at 9:00 p.m.
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2nd Prize $75.00
Booby Prize $25.00
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