Whatโs better than turning 100? If you ask Frances Kompus, sheโll tell you itโs turning 100 with your two older sisters by your side.
The centenarian celebrated her big milestone with sisters Julia Kopriva who is 104, and Lucy Pochop who is 102.
The three grandmothers have always had a close relationship but a lot has changed since they grew up on a farm in Kansas in the early 1900s.
โIt was good on the farm,โ Kompus told USA Today. โI had a few geese to play with and even had some roosters I made pets.โ
Kopriva was born in 1917, Pochop in 1919, and Kompus in 1921 to Florian William Holub and Frances Rose Chleborad Holub.
I just remember how we used to walk to school,โ Pochop told KSNW. โIt was about a mile and three-quarters. It was a long walk.โ
โWeโd cross the pasture, we would walk, and then on the way back, we would stop at the creek and catch frogs, put them in our pockets,โ Kompus said.
Back then, the girls worked on the farm in dresses since girls didnโt typically wear pants back then.
โWhat I remember well is my father didnโt have modern tractors,โ Korpriva said. โWe took gas, gasoline out in the field in five-gallon buckets.โ
These women also lived through the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl.
โIt was dark sometimes. The teachers would call the parents, and, you know, to come and get us from school,โ said Kopriva.
โThen, we had old homes, and at the bottom, my mother would always put wet towels so the dirt wouldnโt be so bad to come in. The younger generation donโt believe what we done went through. We work today, but we worked harder those days.โ
They say that things are a lot better now than when they were younger.
โWe have got refrigerators and deep freezers,โ Pochop said. โWe didnโt have that those days.โ
The sisters recall eating simple homecooked meals in their youth when food wasnโt always plentiful.
โWe always had homemade bread, just plain potatoes, and gravy and meat. With those cookstoves, that was hard to bake. The temperature was hard to keep. Even if it didnโt come out good, we still ate it,โ said Kopriva.
While the sisters didnโt eat fancy, they ate good food which they say is how theyโve โbeen around for a while.โ
They each had some advice for the younger generations.
โAnd pray and try to stay out of mischief,โ said Kopriva.
โI would tell them to walk a lot,โ Kompus said.
โI think faith comes first and thank your parents, grandparents,โ Kopriva told KSNW.
Kompus was happy to celebrate her 100th birthday at the Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Atwood where she and her sisters were baptized, confirmed, and married over the years.
โI loved it,โ Kompus said. โIt was a good party.โ
Learn more about these three sisters in the video below.
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