At 110, Natalia Lopez enjoying a full life
For most people, a bite from a venomous snake turns into a fatal injury. For Natalia Lopez, a bite from a venomous snake was nothing more than a small inconvenience.
When Lopez was 47 years old, she was bitten on her foot while riding a horse down a road. She was able to recover with just a shot and some ointment.
“Maybe it did her good instead of bad,” stated granddaughter Lilia Lopez on Natalia’s snake bite. The event proved to be just one of the extraordinary achievements in Natalia’s life as she recently turned 110 years old last month.
Born on November, 30 1906 in Moroleon, Guanajuato, Mexico, the 110-year-old has lived through many historic events throughout the past century.
One of the first historically significant things Natalia recalled living through is the Mexican Revolution of 1910 where she witnessed vaqueros, Spanish for cowboys, ride around where she lived.
At age 12, Natalia experienced the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic and distinctly remembers seeing multiple dead bodies affected by the flu lying around and being removed from the streets.
In 1922, Natalia married Marcelino Lopez and celebrated with a party that lasted three days.
“She still tells stories about it,” stated Lilia on her grandmother’s three-day wedding celebration which Natalia still proudly boasts about to this day.
Put together by Natalia’s mother-in-law, the celebration consisted of three days worth of music, dancing and a wide variety of foods such as mole sauce, red chilies, cooked goats, turkeys and pigs.
Three years after her wedding, Natalia had her first child Ester Lopez. Natalia then had three more children, Consuelo in 1928, Miguel in 1934 and Refugio in 1936.
The 110-year-old not only lived through the second World War, but also brought new life into the world during the war by having her third daughter in 1939 and her third son in 1945, the same years the war began and ended.
After living her entire life in Mexico, Natalia and her family immigrated to the United Stated in 1965. She then reduced her full name, Maria Natalia Viviana Francisco Lopez Gomez, to her currently used name.
Natalia lived with her family in Salinas for 25 years. In 1990, her husband Marcelino passed away and she moved in with her granddaughter Lilia in the Imperial Valley.
In 2006, Natalia accomplished two of the most desired goals in the world: turning 100 year olds and becoming a legal United States citizen.
“She did the test and she was really happy she passed it,” stated Lilia in regards to her grandmother becoming a legal citizen, who also stated Natalia studied hard for and is very proud to tell people about.
Last week, Natalia turned 110 years old. A list on Wikipedia. com shows that Natalia ranks in the top 100 oldest people currently living around the world.
If met in person, one might not be able to distinguish how old Natalia actually is due to her lively personality.
“She can stand and walk and do everything, trust me,” stated Lila on her grandmother, who also stated Natalia knows all of her grandkids and continues to tell plenty of her life stories.
The 110-year-old followed no special diets or routines throughout her life, although Lilia stated Natalia’s love for meat and grilled cactus on tortillas earlier in her life may have helped with her nutrition.
Natalia currently lives with Lilia in Imperial where she continues to eat her cherished tamales and Mexican-style chocolate milk, just as she always has.