Lifelong Mount Prospect resident still going strong at 100

If anyone is a living example of the term "aging in place," it is Bernice Oehlerking.

Oehlerking has spent all of her 100 years living in Mount Prospect, a village only six years older than she.

During all that time, she has lived in only two homes. The first sat on what was then known as Railroad Avenue. Then, in the 1950s, her family moved onto the 600 block of South School Street, where Oehlerking still resides today and recently celebrated reaching the century mark with a backyard party.

Longtime residents may remember Oehlerking from visits to Central Continental Bakery, where she worked for many years. Those who go back even further may recall her working at Meeske's Market.

Among those who attended her birthday party was Mayor Paul Hoefert and his wife, Linda. The mayor even read a proclamation in honor of "Bernice Oehlerking Day.

Fellow longtime resident and community volunteer Jill Friedrichs also took part in the celebration.

"Mount Prospect is an awesome community, and to have been able to live there her whole life, it's an accomplishment," Friedrichs said.

Growing up, Oehlerking's family farmed corn, cabbage, soybeans, tomatoes and onions. Much of what they grew was hauled to Chicago's South Water Market, she said.

Everybody had to help out on the farm.

"I mostly watched the other younger kids," she said. One of those "kids," her 92-year-old sister, Dolores Allers of Oak Lawn, was at the birthday party.

Oehlerking attended St. Paul Lutheran School and Arlington High School.

Now at 100 years old, Bernice is alert and in good shape.

"I am lucky that I'm able to maneuver myself," she said, adding that she enjoys spending time reading and working on word puzzles.

Her future plans? "To try and be independent," she said.