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To Make You Smile!

85-year-old Grannie Hits 100+

BY DAVID BOLLING INDEX-TRIBUNE EDITOR
Mar 19, 2012 - 07:46 PM

GRANDMA RUTH HALLECK with her Lola single-seat race car after several sometimes muddy laps at Infineon Raceway.



Were it not for the throng of family and friends crowded 150 strong into a VIP suite at Infineon Raceway, all of whom insist that it’s true, there’s no way you would believe that Ruth Halleck is about to be 85 years old.

Seventy maybe, 85 – never.

Ruth is wearing a Christmas red, skin-tight pants suit with a stylish black belt, a “Grand Prix of Monaco” embroidered T-shirt and black boots with three-inch heels. An hour earlier, she squeezed her 5-foot, 10-inch frame into a simraceway Lola SRW-F3 open-wheeled racecar and took off around Infineon’s 12-turn, 2.5 mile road course at speeds over 100 miles per hour.

And what was that like for a great-grandmother with 55 grandchildren?

“Well,” said the woman sometimes called Grandma Ruthie, and at other times called simply “hot” by her daughter, Becky Gentry, “it was very difficult getting into the car because my legs are so long. And then the helmet kept slipping down over my eyes so I could just see through this little slit. But it was fun.”

The helmet intervention didn’t stop her from hitting speeds of more than 100 mph, but Ruth admits that at one point she spun out, coating the Lola with a healthy layer of mud. “I got that car pretty dirty, you know. I felt kind of bad.”

But racing a formula car at Infineon isn’t the most exciting thing Ruth Halleck has done. For her 80th birthday, she went skydiving, and she loved it.

“If you ever have the chance to jump out of an airplane,” she urges, “please do. You’ll love it.”

Which is pretty much how everyone around Ruth feels about her. “She’s a caregiver for all of us,” said another daughter, whose name was lost in the crowd of family members. “We just love her.”

“I’ve had a lot of happiness,” said Ruth, “lot’s of wonderful children, grandchildren and great grandchildren.”

Daughter Becky describes her as a “wild, hot 85-year-old,” as three generations flow in and out of the circle of her love with hugs and smiles.

Ruth has “buried three husbands” and now has a 91-year-old boyfriend. She has been a model, a pilot and once owned Kozy Katz, a dress shop in Rohnert Park. She now lives in Sebastopol but loves to travel.

When she’s 90, she says, she’ll go for a hot air balloon ride to celebrate. So far she hasn’t decided what to do for 100.

Article from the SONOMA NEWS MAGAZINE

The Black Hills of South Dakota - Mt Rushmore

WOW!!!  THESE PICTURES ARE SECTACULAR!!!  ENJOY!

The black hills of South Dakota -

Mt Rushmore

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 Air Force One flying over Mount Rushmore. The entire memorial is spread out over 1,278.45 acres (5.17 km2). Photo #2 by U.S. Air Force

 Colossal granite heads of Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln are not eroding “since the estimated erosion rate is 1 inch every 10,000 years.” by National Park Service Digital Image Archives

 It took 400 workers 14 years to carve out our Founding Fathers. Photo by Zach Dischner

 Mount Rushmore during sunset, a shot of the great monument with fading sunlight behind the Black Hills. The 60-foot (18 m) sculpted heads are of U.S. Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln. Photo #1 by Chaitanya Polumetla

 Mount Rushmore HDR. This project to carve the Presidents into Rushmore was first started to increase tourism in the Black Hills region of South Dakota and is now the top tourist location in the state. by Mike Tigas from Spokane, WA, United States

Mount Rushmore National Memorial. NPS wrote, “The figure of Thomas Jefferson was originally started on Washington’s right side. After 18 months of carving the figure of Jefferson had to be blasted off the mountain and restarted on Washington’s left side.” Photo #9 by Jim Bowen from Hope Mills NC, US

 Every year, about 3 million visitors come through this entrance to view the presidents which were sculpted by Danish-American Gutzon Borglum and his son, Lincoln Borglum. Wikipedia states, “Construction on the memorial began in 1927, and the presidents’ faces were completed between 1934 and 1939. Upon Gutzon Borglum’s death in March 1941, his son Lincoln Borglum took over construction. Although the initial concept called for each president to be depicted from head to waist, lack of funding forced construction to end in late October 1941.” Photo #3 by Scott Catron

Mt. Rushmore at Night. The NPS evening lighting schedule varies throughout the year, but during the main season, NPS said from mid-May to mid-August, the sculptures are lit up at 9:00 p.m. nightly. The evening lighting starts at 8:00 p.m. from mid-August through September. by Dhaval Shreyas

 1932 picture of construction at Mount Rushmore of George Washington’s likeness. Amazingly, even with 400 workers and hanging by harnesses, there were no fatalities during construction. by Rise Studio, Rapid City, S. Dak

Construction of Mount Rushmore National Monument (MORU). Photo #33 by Charles D’Emery / NPS

 Mount Rushmore National Park ranger with Washington and Jefferson. by NPS

 Mt Rushmore detail of Abraham Lincoln’s face. CyArk states, “Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States, held the nation together during its greatest trial, the Civil War. Lincoln believed his most sacred duty was the preservation of the union. It was his firm conviction that slavery must be abolished (1809-1865).” by CyArk / Kacyra Family Foundation / NPS

 Mt Rushmore detail on Theodore Roosevelt’s face. CyArk wrote, “Theodore Roosevelt, 26th president of the United States, provided leadership when America experienced rapid economic growth as it entered the 20th Century. He was instrumental in negotiating the construction of the Panama Canal, linking the east and the west. He was known as the ‘trust buster’ for his work to end large corporate monopolies and ensure the rights of the common working man (1858-1919). by CyArk / Kacyra Family Foundation / NPS

 Mt. Rushmore, up-close view of Thomas Jefferson. CyArk site states, “Thomas Jefferson, third president of the United States, was the author of the Declaration of Independence, a document which inspires democracies around the world. He also purchased the Louisiana Territory from France in 1803 which doubled the size of our country, adding all or part of fifteen present-day states (1743-1826).” A Jefferson quote: “Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost.”  by CyArk / Kacyra Family Foundation / NPS

 Roosevelt and Lincoln – Mt Rushmore. by Stewart Baird

Roosevelt closeup from above. “Do what you can, with what you’ve got, where you are,” said Roosevelt. He also said, “I have always been fond of the West African proverb ‘Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far’.”  by NPS Digital Image Archives

 View of Abraham Lincoln from on top of Mt. Rushmore. On November 19, 1863, during the Gettysburg Address, Lincoln said, “Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.”  by Rachel.miller727

George Washington Profile closeup. Presidents Day is celebrated in honor of Washington’s birthday. When George Washington was leading the troops so America could be free of Britain’s control, he said, “The time is now near at hand which must probably determine whether Americans are to be freemen or slaves; whether they are to have any property they can call their own; whether their houses and farms are to be pillaged and destroyed, and themselves consigned to a state of wretchedness from which no human efforts will deliver them. The fate of unborn millions will now depend, under God, on the courage and conduct of this army. Our cruel and unrelenting enemy leaves us only the choice of brave resistance, or the most abject submission. We have, therefore, to resolve to conquer or die.”Photo #13 by Ed Menard Ranger / NPS

 Charles D’Emery documented the carving of Mount Rushmore for 14 years. by Charles D’Emery / NPS

 Mount Rushmore National Memorial working on Jefferson, photo by Charles D’Emery. More from NPS about the carving history: “The workers had to endure conditions that varied from blazing hot to bitter cold and windy. Each day they climbed 700 stairs to the top of the mountain to punch-in on the time clock. Then 3/8 inch thick steel cables lowered them over the front of the 500 foot face of the mountain in a ‘bosun chair’. Some of the workers admitted being uneasy with heights, but during the Depression, any job was a good job.” by Charles D’Emery / NPS

 Mount Rushmore and brave workers. by Charles D’Emery / NPS

 Mount Rushmore construction workers hanging by cables. by Charles D’Emery / NPS

Mount Rushmore, hanging in the sky, working on an eye. Not a single man or woman died during the 14 years of blasting and carving to create the Mount Rushmore National Memorial. by Charles D’Emery / NPS