Centenarian

Frances Bauer

Chewelah, Wash.

Frances Katherine (Perkins) Bauer is celebrating her 100th birthday today. She was born on Sept. 20, 1904, on her family’s farm on Kelley Hill in Boyds, Wash.

Her parents were pioneers in present day Stevens County, where she attended school in a one-room school house. She met Murlyn Hall, and they married in 1924. He is deceased.

Bauer moved to Chewelah, Wash., in the late 1960s, where she met Eugene Bauer. They married in 1975 and later moved to Spokane.

After her husband’s, she returned to the Chewelah area, where she still likes to help the local economy by eating out twice a day and frequenting her favorite establishment, the Chewelah Casino.

Bauer is known for her incredible knowledge of local history. Half Native American, she is an active member of the Colville Confederated Tribes and is a member of the Arrow Lakes Band. She is proud to be a Native American, a Roman Catholic and a friend.

She said that living to be 100 years old has been her most rewarding life achievement. “I am blessed with good health. I have all my teeth, all my ears and all my hair.” Bauer attributes her long and healthy life to, “no carousing, eating and sleeping properly, my faith and the wonderful people in my life, especially my parents.”

Her most memorable moment in the past 100 years was the moment she met her husband, Murlyn. “He was playing the violin in a small orchestra in Marcus, Wash. It was the sweetest music I had ever heard. I can still remember the sound.”