On July 22, Columbia Heights resident Fern Ostberg will join the growing ranks of U.S. citizens who reach the mark of centenarian. As that achievement will follow on the heels of more than a week of community and family celebrations however, Fern expects her 100th birthday to be more low-key.
On Sunday, July 14, her Faith United Methodist congregation in St. Anthony recognized her after their 9:30 a.m. service, where she regularly serves on the Welcoming Team. Music was provided by local barbershop quartet Fourtold. Then on the 18th there will be a residents and staff only celebration at the Crest View Boulevard apartments where she resides. Finally, on Sunday the 21st, her family will gather in Silverwood Park for a private party.
Born in Kansas City, Kan., and raised in Iowa, Fern graduated from Iowa State University before starting work at Macalester College in St. Paul. It was there she met her future husband Edward, when both of them volunteered at a downtown summer program for children in the 1940s. They married in 1949 and built a home in St. Anthony in 1953, where they raised a family and continued living for the next 62 years. Ten years ago, they settled into Crest View. Edward passed away in 2016 after 67½ years of marriage.
When asked to pass on her secrets to a long life, Fern first pointed to the fact that her parents lived to 96 and 98. Daughter Anne Ostberg said her mother has always worked at staying connected with friends throughout her life and credits this with contributing to her mother’s longevity.
Fern noted she “never smoked” and “barely tried (alcohol).” As a child, they “always ate vegetables and … having grown up in the Depression you couldn’t afford a lot of fancy things … ice cream, cakes and stuff Dairy Queen has.” She said the same dietary habits held into adulthood.
Well, for the most part, anyway. On July 22 she does plan on a bowl of her favorite: Chocolate Peanut Butter Moose Tracks ice cream.
Fern Ostberg contemplates her next move at the twice weekly Scrabble game at Crest View as Mary Jo Shull looks on. (Andrew Lake)
