After A 3-Year Stint In A Sanitarium, This 102-Year-Old Woman Learned To Always Look To The Future

Alfreda Dumond of Fort Kent is 102 years old. She remembers the Acadian culture and rural lifestyle that defined her childhood in Aroostook County. But as the world around her has changed, Dumond chooses to look ahead instead of focusing on the past.

Dumond doesn’t have any secrets for longevity. At 102, draped with a big necklace and earrings, she’s still surprised that she’s made it this far.

“I never thought I would get to this point. To that age. Oh no. It’s a surprise for me,” she says.

Dumond lives in a nursing home in Fort Kent, the same town where she grew up. She remembers her family’s big house in the country surrounded by chickens and cows.

“When I was young we used to go to pick berries. Blueberries and strawberries. They don’t have that good taste anymore. This is the best taste, those small ones. And, we used to go, my mom. And we’d get ready in the morning early. And we’d wait till the fog would go away. And we picked up probably quarts of blueberries and strawberries,” she says.

Read the rest of the story at Maine Public’s website.