Alice Thibedaeu in her beautiful home in Golden Valley where she will be celebrating her 100 birthday on July 24. Alice has remodeled much of her house and has built the entire landscaping around her house herself.
GOLDEN VALLEY – Alice Thibedaeu turns 100 years old today.
Alice is often asked what her “secret” is. She likes to say, “I take lots of vitamins, and God”. Alice states her whole life, she has been somewhat of a “health freak”. She barely drank, never smoked and always stayed active. Alice still goes to the gym once a week. She loved to hike, even hiking tracks like the Crest Trail. Alice would hike with her friends up until age 93. Alice now loves sitting on her porch watching the wildlife and feeding the bunnies that come by. She likes to see her one-hundredth birthday as her final milestone.
If Alice could give a message to the young, she would say “Don’t listen to what’s going on in the news” and to “Have a mind of your own”, that we all should stay on the “straight and narrow” and look out for ourselves.
On July 24, 1924, Alice J. Thibedaeu was born in a farmhouse in Shell Lake, Wisconsin as child 11 of 12. Alice is the only sibling left. This is where she resided until third grade, when she moved to Itasca Wisconsin, near Lake Superior. Graduating from East High School in 1942, Alice was second in her class, though, this was the same year her father had sadly passed away. After the unfortunate event, Alice moved in with two of her sisters in Chicago in 1943. Alice was there for a limited time but worked at a Western Union in Chicago as her first job. The girls then decided to move to Stockton, California shortly after. Alice speaks on how beautiful California was when she was residing there until 1977. The war started only a couple of years after Alice had moved.
Alice and her sisters had worked at the Pollock shipyard as tackers, but eventually moved up as welders, which Alice seemed to enjoy. Alice then moved on to working at the Stockton High School Regitrar’s Office until landing a job at the Naval Annex at Port of Stockton. During this period of her life, Alice meets Myrl Laurence, her first husband and the one whom she can thank for her four children.
She bore her two oldest sons, Ronald born in 1947, and Terry born in 1949. Her only daughter, Mildred (Midge) was born in 1955. Randall was born May 19, 1953, alas he died only about two months later, as he was born with a heart defect. Alice and Myrl divorced in 1967.
Alice worked at a drug store for a while and then worked at the small claims department at the Municipal Court in Stockton. In 1970, Alice got married to Donald Sternberg, moving to Maries Idaho where she would work at a bank for three years. Idaho was one of her favorite places to live. Donald died in 1976 after suffering from cancer for two years. After the death, Alice moved to Gold Beach, Oregon, where she worked for AT&T.
Alice met her third husband, Bernard (Bernie) Sauer at a square dance in Oregon. They were married by 1977 in which they moved to Crescent City, California together. They bought their first home together by the beach, before building one of the four homes they would end up building together. Bernie retired in 1983 and the couple began building their second house in Nesika Beach, Oregon.
The last two houses they built together are both located in Bullhead City, in which they would spend winters in Arizona. Bernie and Alice would ride motorcycles and quads, together. They loved to hike, hunt, and fish together. She spent 28 wonderful years with Bernie before he passed in 2005, they were both 80. Alice states the 28 years with Bernie were some of the most special years of her life; she still misses him.
After moving to North Bend, Oregon for a short period after Bernie’s death, Alice began spending winters in Golden Valley when she decided to sell her home in Oregon, moving to Golden Valley in 2013. She put a manufactured home on a plot of land she had bought and decided to build the landscaping of her home entirely on her own.
Today, Alice is still heavily involved in the church and has much support from her friends. She will be happily ready to return home to Bernie after reaching this final milestone.
Noel Mabile
