Most people don’t reach their centennial but on Monday, December 10th, Kathleen Leach celebrated her 100th birthday at Rittenhouse Senior Living of Valparaiso. At such a prestigious age, Kathleen retains a clear mind and sharp wit as she tells life stories from the past century.
Reflecting on her childhood in Beaver Dam, Kentucky, growing up near the one lane dirt road that stretched from Louisville to Paducah, Kathleen spent her school days at home, taught by her mother, as floodwaters kept her from attending the local grade school. When the Great Depression hit, Kathleen’s father traveled to Indiana in search of work, ending up in Whiting, working for the steel mills, eventually moving the family up north.
“In the 30s, people didn’t have jobs, you couldn’t go to school,” she remembered. As the men went off to war, with the onset of World War II, women took over their jobs, “even engineering jobs.” Despite those positions, there wasn’t much a woman could do besides being a wife and mother: secretarial, nursing, and teaching positions were more commonly open to women and as Kathleen “never had anything to do with the hospital,” she chose to teach.
Starting her career teaching in grade school, Kathleen eventually went on to earn her Masters from the University of Chicago, working at the Latin library at the university and eventually teaching Latin at North Park Academy. In a career that spanned from 1948 to 1974, Kathleen impacted young lives and urged her students on to success, the most notably former Illinois Governor Jim Thompson.
A letter from a former student at North Park Academy was delivered to Kathleen on her 100th birthday:
We, your students, honor you-
- For your dedication to Christian Secondary Education, knowing that in these years, students make decisions that affect the rest of their lives.
- For your commitment to excellence in lesson preparation and in teaching methodology.
- For your expertise and joy in planning, working and enjoying The Latin Banquet every year with us.
- For your sense of humor and your willingness to participate in hilarious faculty skits!!
- For giving of your entire self to educate and influence young people for the furtherance of Christ’s Kingdom here and for all eternity.
We all love you and thank God for you.
After retiring, Kathleen ended up in Chesterton where she lived until age 98, before coming to Rittenhouse. Her secret to longevity? “I just kept on living,” she laughed. “I never thought anything about getting old…I got old anyway. Being busy all the time, I never had time to think about anything else except living.”
Kathleen also credits her strong faith to her long life. “Anywhere we were, we went to church,” she stated, sharing how her family would “adopt” local kids and bring them to church as well, “almost like an orphanage.”
“I want Jesus to be pleased with our lives,” she shared. “I tried to do the best I could with everybody I met.”
The staff at ValpoLife would like to wish Kathleen congratulations and a very happy birthday!
Photos:
- Kathleen Leach, 100 years
- Kathleen with her caregiver, Darla Sheets