Gladys Lambring has hit the century mark.
Today is her 100th birthday, and a small gathering of family and friends is being planned by her son, Max Lambring, and granddaughters, Bailey Beickman and Kendall Lambring.
Gladys was asked earlier this week what she thought about reaching the milestone.
“Oh, I don’t know. I just don’t think so much about it,” she said, smiling. “I don’t feel bad.”
Max said besides battling colon cancer three times, his mother has been in good health.
“She never took treatment or pills or anything,” he said of his mother’s cancer.
“It’s a long time. I’m only 58, and my body is shot,” he said of her turning 100. “Her one knee, she doesn’t get around good. I can’t imagine how it hurts, but she doesn’t complain much.”
Gladys’ granddaughters also shared thoughts on her reaching 100.
“I hope I’m in as good a health and with it as she is if I make it to 100,” Bailey said.
“I think she’s just going to be immortal at this point,” Kendall said, smiling.
Max also said his mother drove her 1988 Oldsmobile until she was 93.
“She always drove, and then she told me she didn’t want to drive. She was scared somebody would hit her,” he said. “She was a good driver, though, yet.”
Gladys was born June 6, 1920, and grew up living in a log cabin in the Sauers area near where she still lives today. She went to school at Sauers and worked on the family farm, where they raised crops and animals.
“When Mom was young, they farmed with horses and mules,” Max said.
Gladys also remembers peddlers coming around with a horse and buggy.
“Mom would always be looking to see who was coming,” she said.
The family spoke German at home for a time, and Gladys also remembers going to Seymour to get on the interurban to go to Louisville, Kentucky, or Indianapolis.
When she was done with school, Gladys spent years doing housework for others. That included John Grubb, who owned a grocery company in Seymour.
“I did that for quite a while,” she said of the housework.
On Oct. 4, 1959, Gladys married Fred Lambring. They got to know each other with Fred living in the same area.
Fred spent years as a bus driver. He died in 1997.
Over the years, Gladys was a member of St. John’s Lutheran Church Sauers, Sauers Ladies Aid and Jackson County Farm Bureau.
“Mary Miller and her went to all kinds of Farm Bureau meetings everywhere all over the state,” Max said. “That was a big thing.”
Through Farm Bureau, Gladys also taught pet and hobby for children at the Jackson County Fair.
“They went past the grandstand and kids could bring their animals, and then they did projects through the year and they could show them at the fair — flowers and all that different stuff,” Max said.
Gladys also was big into crafts, using a sewing machine at home to make Christmas ornaments and other items.
“You can’t imagine the stuff that she made,” Max said.
Kendall pointed out a cat pillow on the back of the couch in her grandmother’s living room.
“When we were younger, she made us all one of those,” Kendall said.
Faith has always been important to Gladys, too. She said her parents were an influence with that growing up, and today, she likes listening to local church services on the radio.
“She used to watch us whenever we were younger. She would always make us a home-cooked meal, and we would pray before and after we ate, and it was always centered around that,” Kendall said.
“We would come over here every other weekend, and in the summer, it was more, so we would always just hang out here all day,” Kendall said. “She would play games with us, the old-school ones that she had from when Dad was little.”
Besides her faith, Gladys credits her long life to watching what she eats. When she was in her 60s, Max said her doctor told her she needed to watch her cholesterol.
“So then she watched how much she ate. She would measure and the whole nine yards,” Max said.
“Not too many sweets,” Bailey added.
Today, though, Gladys can splurge with some birthday cake since it’s a special occasion.
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Name: Gladys Lambring
Age: 100
Residence: Sauers area
Occupation: Grew up working on the family farm and later spent years doing housework for others
Family: Late husband, Fred Lambring; son, Max Lambring; granddaughters, Kendall Lambring and Bailey (Joseph) Beickman; great-grandchild due in July
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