100 Years Young, Oak Forest Woman Still Going Strong

Alice Krueger wasn't exactly thrilled to have a reporter in her kitchen. 

The sassy, silver-hairedresident glared skeptically at the notebook and camera. People didn't need to know her story, she said. They wouldn't want to.

Her son Allen and daughter-in-law Lisa disagreed; everyone would want to hear from a woman whose life, as of Jan. 29, has spanned 100 years.

"We're not guaranteed another day on this earth," said Lisa Krueger. "And for her to make 100, I think it's amazing."

Alice has lived in her Oak Forest home near 147th and Oak Park Avenue since the 1920s. It sits on five acres butting up against Cook County Forest Preserve land. There, she raised a family of five sons, and tended to 300–400 chickens, along with geese, ducks, horses, sheep and cows. She pasteurized her own milk, churned her own butter, and sold both locally. The meat on her family's table was hand-raised in their backyard. Until recently, she never missed a service at in Tinley Park—she is the church's oldest member. Nowadays, Pastor Strand visits Alice at her home, where they share Communion.

"Her Christian morals were always strong, she read the Bible everyday," Lisa said. "She raised her children in a very Christian home.

"Spirituality was always very important to her."

Alice was born in a farmhouse, along a nearby dirt road that no longer exists. She graduated from the church's school and later married Alfred, a craftsman for Wyman-Gordon in Harvey. Their sons—Allen (72), Tom (65), Ken (64), James (50), and Mark (deceased)—all attended Trinity school. Her husband died of cancer in 1987.

As he stood in the same kitchen where his mother cooked the Thanksgiving dinners of his childhood, Allen gazed at her and reminisced.

"She was such a hard worker," he said, of her during his childhood. "She was busy all the time, with the farm animals."

Once, as she was milking a cow, it kicked her in the mouth. She lost her front teeth, Allen said. Then there was the "mess of geese" that Allen loved. For Lisa's husband James, it was the goats.

"He loved his goats!" Lisa said, laughing. "It was hard when we got married, because he had to give up the goats—he couldn't take them with him!"

Lisa recalled the earlier days of joining the family, and one trip to the post office, in particular. Alice asked Lisa to pick up a special delivery: a shipment of live chickens.

"I didn't know they sent them through the mail!" Lisa said, laughing.

She also specifically recalls Alice's chicken and dumpling soup and turkey stuffing with one secret ingredient. Her homemade fried chicken was a family favorite, too, Allen said. She loved hosting family dinner parties, a regular event until just a few years ago.

"I think she's been a strong individual," Lisa said. "God has truly blessed her with 100 years."

Alice currently lives with a caregiver, in the same home she shared with Alfred, and all her sons. She has six grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. She has led quite the life, Lisa said.

Though Alice seems too modest to accept the attention, Pastor Strand celebrated with a card shower, hoping to collect at least 100 birthday cards for her.

"I think she's been a strong individual," Lisa said. "She pretty much done this all on her own.

"God has truly blessed her with 100 years."

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