Former All-American Girls professional baseball player, Crystal Lake resident celebrates 100th birthday

Sliced bread is the best thing since Crystal Lake resident Nanette Rutledge, who was born eight years before the first automatically sliced loaf.

Donning a pink foam tiara and a smile, Rutledge celebrated her 100th birthday Wednesday at Revere Court Memory Care of Crystal Lake.

Rather than visiting Rutledge in person, friends and family joined her by video chat and stood outside Rutledge’s window at the memory care center where she lives. She also was gifted more than 172 birthday cards, a cake and by special request, an egg nog ice cream sundae. Asked how she was feeling Wednesday, Rutledge looked up from her chair, smiled and replied, “Great!”

“She really could not be any prettier and more precious,” said Sarah Moore, director of community relations for Revere Court of Crystal Lake. “She looks like the grandma you would design for yourself.”

A lot has changed since Rutledge was born on Jan. 6, 1920, but the petite, silver-haired grandmother of 10 is as “spunky” as ever.

“Yesterday I asked her what’s her secret to living to 100,” Moore said. “She said ‘I take a lot of naps.’ And then she said, ‘I think I’ll take one now.’”

In her youth, Rutledge was the valedictorian of her graduating class at Steinmetz College Prep on the northwest side of Chicago, her grandson Drew Rutledge said. She also played for the South Bend Blue Sox in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, the league featured in the 1992 film “A League of Their Own,” he said.

“She was setting that kind of example of what a woman can do,” said Drew Rutledge, who helped take care of Rutledge, along with his parents, before she moved into Revere Court.

Nanette Rutledge even once pet the 1941 Triple Crown winning horse Whirlaway – not that the steed’s prestigious title made a difference to her.

“It wasn’t important that it was a famous horse or anything,” Drew Rutledge said. “She just wanted to pet the horse.”

As a stenographer for Sears, Nanette Rutledge spent a year in San Francisco, where she re-connected with her brother who was injured during Navy training, Drew Rutledge said.

“They transferred her out there for a year and she found her brother and confirmed that he was OK,” Drew Rutledge said.

Nanette Rutledge continued to watch her family grow over the years. For all the happiness life brought her, there were also somber moments like the passing of her longtime husband Melvin in 1997. More recently, in 2018, Nanette Rutledge was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.

“It’s really interesting with some of the memories that she does keep,” Drew Rutledge said. “They seem to be the ones from earlier in her life.”

Those memories of climbing on rooftops in her youth or tales of the Chicago neighborhood where she grew up are full of happy surprises for those like Drew Rutledge hearing of them for the first time.

“She actually really didn’t speak all too negatively about the Depression,” Drew Rutledge said. “She was just a kid. She went on about how everyone would help everyone out. Times were tough, but she would keep chickens and that’s how the family kept on.”

Nanette Rutledge’s birthday has been a source of hope and optimism for the entire community at Revere Court of Crystal Lake, Moore said.

“When we started coping with COVID in our community, one of our goals was Nanette’s birthday party,” Moore said. “It’s a nice symbol of hope for us as we go into this new year – new beginnings and resilience.”

Despite an early outbreak of COVID-19 at the memory care facility, Nanette Rutledge never contracted the virus, Moore said.

“We’re so privileged to be able to celebrate with her today,” Moore said.

As for her baseball skills, Nanette Rutledge still boasts a mean swing, Moore said.

“She can still swing a bat,” Moore said. “It might be a pool noodle at a balloon but ... she’s spunky.”