Milestone
Yuman celebrates 107th birthday
Helen Stroud has arrived at a milestone few other people reach.
Today is the Yuma resident’s 107th birthday.
Her grandchildren, great-grandchildren and friends are gathering today at Haven Health senior center, where Stroud resides, to celebrate the occasion with food and cake.
Stroud is old enough to have experienced travel in a covered horse-drawn wagon, old enough to remember when women couldn’t vote.
She lived through the Depression, then did her part on the homefront to help the United States in the Second World War.
She outlived two husbands, and today she has six grandchildren, 16 greatgrandchildren and at least 11 great-grandchildren
Asked recently what she believes has been her secret to living such a long, full life, she said, “God has a lot to do with it.”
Kim Dealy, one of Stroud’s granddaughters, agrees her firm commitment to Christian values is one reason for her longevity. But another is simply her zest for living.
“She told me once that she wasn’t afraid to die, but that she wanted to know what was going to happen next,” said Dealy.
And, her granddaughter added, Stroud’s longevity can be credited to her insistence upon being involved in the world around her.
In the first decade of Stroud’s life, only men could vote. The memory of women being denied the same right, says Dealy, motivated her grandmother from then on to participate in any election taking place where she lived.
A year ago, Stroud, a registered Democrat, was hoping to see Hillary Clinton elected as the nation’s first female president. While that didn’t happen, Stroud nonetheless cast a ballot in the election at the age of 106.
Born Sept. 3, 1910, in West Texas, Stroud came to Arizona at age 7 when her family arrived by covered wagon to Apache Junction.
Following her graduation from the eighth grade in Mesa, her family moved to California. During her high school years, she worked as a waitress and later in dress shops and department stores. When the United Stages got into World War II, Stroud worked making components for bomber aircraft.
She was married to her first husband for about 60 years and they had two sons together, one of whom is now deceased.
Five years after her husband died, Stroud remarried at age 82. She lived in Oregon with her second husband and traveled down to Yuma as a winter visitor. Following his death, Stroud moved to Yuma permanently.