Member celebrates health and family
Tillie Aichele doesn’t look like she’s 100 years old.
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The Fred and Tillie Aichele family in 1957. Back row (left to right): Glen, Shirley, Bernell (“Ike”), Floyd, Luella (“Sis”) and LeRoy; front row (left to right): Fred, Lee and Tillie. |
In fact, she doesn’t act like it either. She still takes long walks, climbs steps and cooks a pheasant feast when one of her sons deposits a few roosters on her porch.
A Capital Electric Cooperative member who lives south of Driscoll, Tillie celebrated her 100th birthday Nov. 11.
“It’s hard to believe where the years have gone,” she says. “I’m very thankful for my health. The Lord has been so good to me. I can still do my housework and cook, so I count my many blessings.”
‘Where would I have it any better?’
The daughter of Gotlieb and Elizabeth Auch, Mathilda “Tillie” Sophia Auch attended school and church in Tuttle along with her brother and two sisters. At the local Evangelical United Brethren Church, Tille fell in love with the tenor voice that belonged to Fred Aichele. They married in February 1929.
During their first few years of marriage, Fred worked the mail route and Tillie clerked at the general store. They later moved to Wing, and bought and ran the meat market. Tillie says they had good business for eight months, and then a fire devastated the building. It was a complete loss.
They moved their business to a different location in Wing but eventually moved back to Tuttle. In 1943, they bought a farm south of Driscoll where they started to farm and ranch.
“It was a good place to raise seven children,” she says.
A car accident took Fred’s life in July 1965. Tillie says his passing left a huge void in her life—but she considers herself fortunate to have all seven of their children close by today. Glen, Shirley, Bernell, Floyd, Luella, Leroy and Lee all live in North Dakota. Glen bought the family farm and lives next door to Tillie with his wife, Jean. They check on her every day.
“I’m thankful the kids are so close. Otherwise I wouldn’t be living out here by myself, that’s for sure. Where would I have it any better?” she asks.
Electricity: ‘A big change’
Raising children during the Great Depression, Tillie remembers how time-consuming chores were before electricity.
“I was terrible fussy with my clothes; I washed, ironed and folded everything in one day. … I put the water on in the evening. When everyone was still in bed, I woke up at 5 a.m. the next morning to heat the water in the boiler, on a wood stove. I washed it all through once by hand.
“When we got electricity, it was a big change. I got a washing machine with a wringer. It saved a lot of time,” she says.
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Active in church all her life, Capital Electric Cooperative member Tillie Aichele celebrated her 100th birthday at McCabe United Methodist Church in Bismarck Nov. 11. |
Not prone to illness or flu, Tillie says she doesn’t know the secret to living 100 years. But she hasn’t had much time to think about it. She’s been too busy—playing piano for 84 years. Volunteering as the township treasurer for 59 years. Helping milk cows for 40 years. Driving for 29 years…beginning at the age of 60. Serving the Ladies Aid in Sterling for 12 years.
As a farm wife, Tillie used to juggle her time raising the family, feeding calves, herding the sheep and cows, mowing the lawn, cooking and cleaning.
Not quite as busy these days, she “works” in—between naps. She still cooks and cleans, but spends more time on her hobbies: writing letters to her 20 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren, reading books, cleaning her flower beds, crocheting afghans, attending church and taking weekly trips to Bismarck with family and friends.
“I keep busy. I don’t have time to look at the four walls,” she says with a laugh. “I don’t know what tomorrow holds; I’m just enjoying one day at a time.”