Bernice Lewis celebrates big birthday

SANDPOINT — Bernice Lewis has done a lot of living for a 25-year-old.

Despite living in Sandpoint for more than 70 years, the longtime local is only just now broaching her mid-20s.

The secret to her perpetual youth? Well, for starters, her birthday falls on Feb. 29 — leap day. However, a life devoted to family, friends and community has been her true force of vitality. It’s kept her going for 100 years, even if she’s only hit her actual birth date 25 times.

“(Turning 100) is definitely a bigger deal in other people’s minds than mine,” Lewis said. “For the past month or so, I’ve been aiming for it, but what I’ll do with it, I don’t know.”

The Lewis family honored the big birthday with a big party on Saturday. All four of her sons, Bill, Leon, Dan and Marc, were present along with many grandchildren and their offspring.

“I even had some great-great-grandchildren there,” Lewis said. “The rest of us were doggone old.”

Several other community friends came out to honor the occasion as well. For Lewis, it was the perfect way to commemorate a century of living.

“It was wonderful,” Lewis said. “There were always two people on either side talking with me the whole evening.”

Even if Lewis 100th birthday didn’t fall on a leap year, the party still would have occurred. But that wasn’t always the case. Lewis said that growing up, she only celebrated her birthday every four years. When they did occur, however, her parents pulled out all the stops.

“I never minded only getting a birthday party every four years,” she said. “I always had a ball at every one of them.”

After growing up and graduating high school, Lewis enrolled at the University of Idaho. During this enrollment, she married her husband of more than 50 years, Dub  Lewis. The two of them moved to Sandpoint, where she has remained ever since.

It’s possible to attribute part of her longevity to her driven nature. Over the many decades of her residence in the town, she has worked as a sales clerk, a bakery manager, an Office of Price Administration clerk, an American Red Cross executive secretary, a GTE business office clerk, a doctor’s receptionist, a state census taker, a census crew leader, a Tenex clerk and a job consultant for the Idaho Department of Education. She even served as the interim editor of The Daily Bee for a few months.  

Of course, her role as a mother to four boys was probably the biggest job of all.

And given the veritable clan her nurturing has generated, it’s likely the work with the most sustained impact. Altogether, Lewis has eight grandchildren, 17 great-grandchildren, and three great-great-grandchildren.

“Everybody tells me it’s all my fault,” she said.

Despite the benefits that old age brings, it also has its downsides. Lewis has lived to see many of her oldest friends and family members pass away. However, she maintains the optimism and perspective that have defined the first 100 years of her life.

“I’ve had a good life and I’m still living in my own home,” she said. “There’s always something to be thankful for.”