What's her secret to longevity?

ARNOLD, Neb. -- President Roosevelt was out of the country on the day Miriam Brower was born.

Teddy, not Franklin.

Theodore Roosevelt was the first sitting president to make an official trip outside the country. He was checking the progress on the Panama Canal when Brower was born to John and Alice Leach in Emmett, Idaho, in 1906.

Recently greeting visitors at the home she moved into with her husband in 1939, Brower graciously ushers her company into the tidy living room, notable for the dozens of photographs of her nine children, 19 grandchildren, 50 great-grandchildren and 14 great-great grandchildren.

She was celebrating her 103rd birthday on Wednesday.

Brower had 32 birthdays on November 11 before the date was officially recognized as a day to honor the country's veterans. "I pray for them," Brower said, talking about veterans and active servicemen and women.

Any hints for living a long and healthy life?

"Eating and sleeping right," Brower said. "Keep your mind working."

Once an avid reader, Brower now has trouble reading because of her failing eyesight. She still completes the North Platte Telegraph's crossword puzzle every day and likes to watch "Jeopardy" on television.
"It's educational," she said. "I don't always know the answers, though."

She also plays Scrabble.

Growing up with six brothers meant a lifelong interest in sports. "I love basketball," Brower said. "I liked to go to the games here in Arnold. I wanted to play in high school, but I had to work for my board and there wasn't time."

After graduation from high school in South Dakota, she taught school in a one-room schoolhouse. After returning home for the summer after her first year of teaching, her brother Robert introduced her to his friend, Gerrit Brower. They married in 1928 after Brower's second year of teaching. Gerrit died in 1990.

Brower has always had a positive attitude, even when times were tough, said her daughter Ruth Yanken.

Brower has remained active in the Church of the Nazarene, where she still attends services every Sunday.

Independent, with a quick wit and easy laugh, Brower said she is looking forward to the next Leach family reunion in 2010.

"I love to travel, on a plane, in a car, on a train, it doesn't matter," she said. "I've been to the East Coast, to Florida and the northwest."

Any advice for the younger generation?

"Go to Sunday school," Brower said.

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