A century and then some

The coronavirus pandemic isn’t stopping Elrose Milverstedt from celebrating her birthday. And mind you, this isn’t just any ordinary birthday.
Milverstedt turned 107 years old on Sunday, May 24. “I’m an old burger,” she said, playing off the fact that she and her husband owned a small town cafe in Claremont for 13 years.
She was born in 1913. Though she is not the oldest person in Minnesota, she is believed to be the eldest in Steele County. Erna Zahn of New Ulm celebrated her 112th birthday last month.
Since the COVID-19 outbreak, Milverstedt has been confined to her independent apartment at Ecumen CountrySide in Owatonna where she has resided for the past 10 years. She could come out in the hallway if she put on a protective mask, but she refuses to do such a thing. “I don't want to wear a facemask,” she says. “I hope it ends pretty soon, I’m so sick of being in my apartment.”
Even though she’s stuck in her apartment by choice, she still finds ways to exercise. “I go around my apartment seven times in he morning and seven times at night,” Milverstedt said. “I figure I’m making up for walking in the hall.”
In the most recent years, Milverstedt’s ritual to celebrate her birthday has been going to the Hubbell House in Mantorville. She has been doing so since she turned 100. But, because of the virus, she won’t be able to go there this year.
Reaching 107 isn’t really something Milverstedt wanted to accomplish. “I didn’t want to live this long,” she confesses. “I am ready to go any day,” she said.
Although she has exceeded the life expectancy of women by about 26 years, Milverstedt mind appears to be sharp. She is able to easily rattle off dates and occurrences from her childhood years of growing up in Kasson with relative ease. She was actually born in Albany, but her family moved to Kasson when she was a baby. She was the youngest of four girls. She said her dad always wanted a boy so he “made me his boy.” She recalls her dad cutting her hair like a boy.
“I have a good mind,” Milverstedt said. “I have a good memory, and I can remember way back.”
She recalls the end of World War I in 1918 when “bullets were hitting the roof of the shack” they were staying in as her family was in the process of building a new house. “People were celebrating the end of the war and shooting off guns,” Milverstedt said.
She vividly remembers her family digging the house with horse and shovel.     
Her father, Fred Schutz, owned a barbershop in Kasson for many years. She graduated from Kasson High School in 1931. She got married in 1936 and had three children, including twins. Her children now live in Hastings, Medford and Rochester.
Milverstedt describes her health as “pretty good.” She is on her second pacemaker after receiving the first one in 1973. “That’s what is keeping me going all these years,” she said.
A while back she experienced a choking spell because of a problem with her throat while in the hospital. Most of the food she eats now is “all chopped up so I don’t choke on it,” she said. “I eat baby food. That’s what happens when you get old. Life isn’t that good for me when it comes to eating.”
She attributes her longevity to “clean living.” Milverstedt never smoked in her life, limited herself to a few drinks and exercised regularly. “You have to keep moving otherwise you get all stiffened up,” she said. “I’m pretty limber for 107,” she added.
The birthday girl prides herself on the fact that she doesn’t use a hearing aid. “I tried them, but I hated them,” Milverstedt said.
During her lifetime, Milverstedt has seen 19 presidents in office. Asked who her favorite one was, she quickly snapped, “Not Trump. He’s too wild.” She said her daughter likes Donald Trump, but they refrain from talking about him because “we get in an argument.”
Milverstedt recalls other epidemics in the past, including polio and measles. But, she is quick to add referring to the coronavirus, “They were nothing like this.”
Over the years, Milverstedt has been a diehard Minnesota Twins fan. Her all-time favorite player is Joe Mauer. When she turned 100, the Twins sent her a care package of pins, Homer Hanky and other memorabilia. They are now hanging above her bed. “I don't know the players like I used to,” she said.
Ecumen marked Milverstedt’s milestone with a surprise parade featuring a police car and fire truck outside the facility. They did not tell her about it before hand. 
Asked about catching Minnesota’s oldest person at 112, Milverstedt paused for a second. She replied, “I hope I don’t live that long. I don’t think I will make it that long.”