Advertisement

Born Jan. 27, 1904 in Austria-Hungary, she worked in sugar beets after immigrating to the United States and later raised a family and labored on their 280-acre farm.

"We worked hard," Stickel said. "We worked, worked, worked. That's what I remember. I made my own soap with lye and pork fat."

She claims to have no secret to her longevity as her 103rd birthday approaches at the end of the month. She enjoys eating meat, fried food, and lots of garlic.

Currently, Stickel lives in Columbiaville with her granddaughter, Diane Wells. Stickel has two sons, Frank and John Jr., eight grandchildren, one of whom is deceased, 20 great-grandchildren, and 19 great-great-grandchildren.

She was born in 1904 at a time when bread cost 4 cents, a car was $500, a house was $4,000, a stamp was 2 cents, Theodore Roosevelt was in the White House and one of the top songs was "Give My Regards to Broadway."

Stickel came to the United States aboard a ship at age 7 in 1911 from then Austria-Hungary. She and her family were quarantined in Italy for one month while her brother had the measles.

"We came to work and make money in sugar beets in Caro," she said. "When we got off the ship, we saw the Statue of Liberty for the first and took the railroad all the way to Caro."

Stickel spoke only German and Croatian when she set foot on American soil, but quickly picked up English. She eventually left school at 12 to continue work in the sugar beet fields.

When she turned 16 in 1920, her parents arranged a marriage between Barbara and the late John Stickel. The couple married in Reese. They had a 67-year marriage and two sons, Frank and John Jr. Barbara had the same maiden name as John, but the two were unrelated.

The Stickels moved their young family to Detroit's east side where John was a foreman for Ford Motor Company. He made $5 a day at a time when the late automotive pioneer Henry Ford was finessing the assembly line. The family lived in Detroit for 10 years then moved north to Armada.

"Then they bought a farm in Armada, but Grandpa didn't know how to farm," Wells said. "I never knew that until now, but they soon learned."

And learned they did raising such crops as wheat, oats, corn, hay, and the family kept cows as livestock. The Stickels started with 100 acres. Joining forces with other family members, the 100 eventually became 280 acres and the farm was later given to John Jr.

In 1948, the family bought Armada's Frost School and moved it to a different home site using logs. "They started closing schoolhouses," Barbara said. "We bought Frost School for $2,100 and lived there 1928 to 2001."

She's also proud to point out she helped start St. Mary's Mystical Rose Catholic Church in Armada.

Barbara never registered to vote or held a driver's license — two sore subjects with her. Her favorite presidents were John F. Kennedy and Woodrow Wilson. The biggest historical event she recalled was Kennedy's assassination.

Wells said she's always learning new things about her grandmother despite living in the same house together. "Everything was made (in her day)," she said. "They made sheets from feed sacks and that really rubbed any dead skin off you. The trunk that came over to the U.S. with her dropped into the ocean. They fished it out and dried it out. I found a 1958 Sears catalog. Did I have fun with that. You could buy a live burro (donkey) from it for $25."

Barbara crated her own dresses, and two she made in the 1920s are being worn today by two of her granddaughters, as she commented some of the fashions are coming back in style.

Her cooking specialties were her homemade egg noodles, paprika, stew, apple cake, and soup. Since for many years she had no refrigerator, she explained how meats were hung in a cool place like a well or root cellar.

"When the farmers butchered meat, I'd fry it in a 10 gallon crock and pour lard over it," Barbara said. "Then we took the meat out and reused the lard."

While Stickler doesn't yet have any plans to celebrate turning 103, she'll likely be surrounded with family and friends in-between occasional Chinese food carry-out or watching TV. Barbara has always liked Westerns, Gene Autry, and wrestling.

"She watches Jerry Springer and gets mad and says, 'How can they not know the daddy,'" Wells laughed. "Every morning, she has two tablespoons of cooked oatmeal, one slice of bread with butter and jelly and shares it with 'Baby' the parrot."

Aside from always wanting Wells to wear a babushka (hat) as part of her mothering instinct, Barbara said, "I feel OK, but not how I used to. I have my walker."

At that, she scooped up her black little kitten, "Milo" and talked to "Baby" while the family dog "Tasha" came over to check on her.

Jennifer J. Decker can be reached at 664-0811, Ext. 8125 or jennifer.decker@lapeergroup.com.