South Dakota nun celebrates 100th birthday

ESTELLINE, S.D. (KELO) — Surrounded by people who appreciate her, Sister Marmion Maiers turned 100 years old on Feb. 28 at Estelline Nursing and Care Center.

“She must have special blessings to live to be a hundred,” Al Kurtenbach of the Brookings area said.

“She’s a good friend,” said Sister Michaeleen Jantzer, who like Maiers is a resident at the facility.

“She’s my best friend,” said Teresa Palmer, who is Maiers’ roommate. “She’s closer to me than anybody.”

Kurtenbach and Maiers first crossed paths a few years ago.

“She was my eighth-grade teacher, so I met her in September of 1947,” Kurtenbach said.

More than seven decades later, here he was at her 100th birthday party.

“I really appreciate what she has done for others as well as what she did for me,” Kurtenbach said.

The now-90-year-old Kurtenbach would go on to help launch an impactful business; he cofounded Daktronics back in 1968.

“She gave me a good start, sent me out into the world with good values,” Kurtenbach said.

On Feb. 28, a sunny day in Estelline, different people took time at a celebration for her century to share how Maiers had impacted their lives. Among the people taking a turn were Jantzer and Palmer, who shared how Maiers had helped her mental sharpness.

“She brought my mind back by telling me stories, and then after she got through with the short stories, she would ask me questions about it to help bring my mind back,” Palmer said.

Maiers says she enjoys living at Estelline Nursing and Care Center.

“Oh yes, I do,” Maiers said. “I kind of like my roommate, too.”

“I wouldn’t have any other roommate but you,” Palmer said.

Palmer says her roommate inspires her.

“When the nurses start walking her down in the hallway, they say, ‘You think you can do it?'” Palmer said. “And I said, ‘Well, if she can do it, I’d better try.'”

Jantzer says there was some concern that the celebration could take place.

“We were very afraid about oh, two, three weeks ago. She was all of a sudden, she was very ill, and so her roommate and I were afraid that she wouldn’t live to be a hundred,” Jantzer said on Feb. 28. “So we were praying, ‘Oh dear Lord, please let her live to be a hundred.'”

And she’s made it.

“I don’t really feel a hundred because like, God has given me pretty good health yet,” Maiers said.

“It was wonderful to be with her when she was a hundred because that was a special moment for us, too,” Jantzer said.

Education has been an important component of that century.

“I have been in education,” Maiers said. “I’ve been principal of a number, both grade schools and high schools.”

And she enjoyed teaching because of whom it involves.

“I enjoyed the interaction of the students and the teachers, and I liked the people,” Maiers said.

That outlook makes sense when chatting with her friends.

“She’s a very pleasant, devoted kind of person,” Jantzer said. “Easy to be around.”

Dan Santella : What’s it like being her roommate?

“Oh, I wouldn’t want anybody else,” Palmer said. “We’re just like, sisters? We’re like family, aren’t we.”

After all, lines between family and friend tend to blur. And these friendships enrich the journey through the years.

“I don’t feel like my age,” Maiers said. “I really feel pretty good.”

She then refers to Palmer.

“She keeps me pretty alive,” Maiers said.

Maiers isn’t the oldest resident at Estelline Nursing and Care Center; there are three who are 102 years old. All told, four of the 53 residents there are 100 years old or older, and another is 99 years old.

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