From left, Heidi Rauch, Ethel Kern and Katie Rauch celebrate Kern’s 100th birthday at the Carroll Township Hall on Sept. 28. (Photo by Sheri Trusty)

BY SHERI TRUSTY

When Ethel J. Kern was born on Oct. 2, 1924, in the unincorporated community of Limestone on the skirts of Port Clinton, life was simple and fun. She reminisced about her long life at a 100th birthday party at the Carroll Township Hall on Sept. 28.

“It was lowkey,” she said of her childhood. “Port Clinton is a vacation center now. It wasn’t like that when I was young.”

One of Kern’s favorite memories growing up in Ottawa County was working in a diner in the early 1940s.

“I worked at the Crystal Hamburg Shop around 1943. We had hamburgs and hot dogs and sold them to the soldiers,” she said. “There was a poolroom next door, so after work, we’d play pool or go to Gem Beach and run the slot machines.”

Ottawa County Commissioner Mark Stahl, left, and Ottawa County Commissioner Donald Douglas, right, presented Ethel Kern, center, with a proclamation in honor of her 100th birthday. (Photo by Sheri Trusty)

It was the midst of World War II, and supplies were rationed.

“We couldn’t buy any silk hose. We could only get the nylon hose, and we almost had to go to Canada to get those,” she said.

Kern never married and never had children of her own, but her nieces and nephews adored her.

“She was the fun one,” said her niece, Lisa Rauch. “She was my second mother.”

Isaac Stanley, left, gives his neighbor, Ethel Kern, a birthday hug. (Photo by Sheri Trusty)

Kern was employed as a computer programmer by Standard Projects and by the federal government when computers were still in their infancy. She retired in 1986, about ten years before the internet made computers a common sight in homes.

“I started with keypunching at Standard Products and was then a tabulating machine operator,” she said. “I worked for the federal government in Detroit for 40 years.”

Kern was surprised by the birthday party.

“I didn’t know they were going to do this,” she said. “I was shocked.”

The party was held four days before her 100th birthday, and she joked about being so close to a century.

Ethel Kern was born in Limestone in 1924, five years before the Great Depression began and 17 years before America entered World War II. (Photo by Sheri Trusty)

“I’m dreading getting to be 100. It’s dangerous when you get to triple digits,” she said.

Kern still stays active tending her yard, mowing her lawn and growing flowers. She had one piece of advice for people hoping to reach 100.

“Get a lot of those TV lunches,” she said. “I love those. I still eat them.”