On the morning of her 100th birthday, Anna May Bequeaith had already played bingo before celebrating her 100 years around the sun at a luncheon organized by the Scarlett Bloomers Women’s Club.
Born on June 15, 1926, the mother of four, grandmother of 12 and great grandmother of 17 had been a longtime resident of Downers Grove before moving to Lisle with her daughter, Kathy Bosco, and her husband.
Reminiscing, Bequeaith said, “It is just a good life, I have had a good life.”
She came to the party wearing a bracelet that her husband, James, gave her in high school and a t-shirt that read “At 100, I am still playing with a full deck, but a little slower.”
Bequeaith was surprised by about 40 attendees on Monday to celebrate.
She came to Lincoln Center in Downers Grove as has she has done for two decades expecting to attend the regular monthly meeting of the Scarlett Bloomers.
“This is such a big surprise. We don’t usually have this kind of spread,” she said.
Her daughter chimed back, “We usually don’t have people who turn 100 years old.”
She added that throughout her life her mom strives to stay active and do things to “keep her mind sharp.”
Now the mother and the daughter are both members of the Scarlett Bloomers, attending the monthly book club together.
Growing up and living in Chicago after she was first married, Bequeaith said her family first moved to Westchester and then eventually settled down in Downers Grove.
After her children were raised, Bequeaith went back to school for nursing and then worked in a nursing home—fulfilling a goal she had for herself after graduating high school.
Graduating amid World War II, Bequeaith said she considered joining the Army as a nurse.
With two brothers in active military duty at the time, Bequeaith said her mom gave a firm “no” to that career proposition.
The Scarlett Bloomers, formerly a Red Hat Chapter, has been meeting at the Downers Grove Park District’s Lincoln Center for the past 22 years meeting on the third Monday of each month except in December at 1 p.m.
More than a decade ago, the Downers Grove chapter of the Red Hat became independent and adopted the name of their former Red Hats chapter, Scarlett Bloomers, as the group’s official name.
A member of the Scarlett Bloomers from nearly the beginning of the group, Bequeaith calls all the members her friends.
“Anna May is a very special lady. She is kind, generous, and pleasant,” said Renae Schueneman, a member of the group.
She also credits Bequeaith with introducing her to the club.
The two met playing cards at the Lincoln Center and Bequeaith mentioned she was headed to a Red Hat meeting.
“I always wanted to do that,” Schueneman said.
Now both women are longtime members.
The purpose of the club, Schueneman said, is to “make new friends, have fun.”
Scarlett Bloomers member and Downers Grove resident Mary Ann Kowalkowski remembers that she did not attend the first meeting of the club but came to the second.
“They put us in a classroom and there were so many people we couldn’t fit,” she added.
Before the entire group sang happy birthday to Bequeaith, Kowalkowski took a moment to serenade her to the Polish tune, “Sto Lat,” a song that wishes “good luck, good cheer, may you live a hundred years.”
“But you are already,” Kowalkowski concluded at the end of the song noting Bequeaith’s designation as a centenarian.