Centenarian

Mary Jane Kindschy

Spokane

 Mary Jane (Roberts) Kindschy plans to celebrate her 100th birthday Monday. She was born April 9, 1912, in Des Moines, Iowa. She has been a resident of Eastern Washington and North Idaho for 65 years.

Kindschy met her husband, Dwight L. Kindschy, in Lewistown, Mont. They were married in 1943. He died in 2008.

After graduating from Montana State University in Bozeman with a major in home economics, Kindschy began a career teaching science in Fairview, Mont. She later taught home economics in Lewistown, Mont.

She and her husband moved to Moscow, Idaho, in 1947. She was one of the first elementary school guidance counselors hired in the Moscow School District in the mid-1960s. She and her husband moved to Spokane in 1992.

Kindschy credits her long and healthy life to excellent genes; a strong and loving marriage; an awareness of good nutrition; moderation in all she does; never smoking; and an occasional glass of red wine. Throughout her life, she has focused on helping others instead of focusing on herself. She and her husband were avid dancers and often danced at the Moscow Elks or the Moscow Dance Club on Fridays.

When asked what has been her most memorable moment in the last 100 years, Kindschy mentioned hearing President Roosevelt on the radio announcing the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

Kindschy has three children: Jan Gower, Donna White and Marigail Sulpizio, all of Spokane. She has eight grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.