First Among Centenarians

At the golden age of 102, Geraldine Paulus still has something to give back to life.

Text by Polly Kolstad and Photography by Jesse Martinez

“I don’t know why I’m so special. It’s just that all of my life I’ve been involved with people and traveled a lot,” says Geraldine (Gerry) Paulus, a sprightly silver haired lady, quietly engaging conversation.

“I’m from Choteau, born on a homestead out of Collins, 102 plus years ago.”

Paulus lived for a short time in Nebraska. Then, the family came back to Montana when her grandfather passed away and her father took over the farm near Choteau so she and her brother could go to high school. She attended Western Montana College for two years and became a school teacher out of Power.

“I had a large rural school, first grade and all the grades in between,” she explains.

Then, she became a fourth grade teacher and at the time if you had a husband, you couldn’t teach.

All young men were being conscripted for the service. Women became “Rosie the Riveters,” so she had to stop teaching for five years. She married Willard, a farmer in July of 1937 when that rule went into effect. In her telling, “I took over the harvest feeding men.”

“We had no electricity, no running water, no telephones. I cooked on a coal/wood stove, heated water, and did all the baking. That was the day when farm wives worked hard. It was not unusual. We had many neighbors living the same way. You valued those friendships and were there to help when needed. We would visit, play cards, and when I look back, those were some of the happiest times of our lives.” This was a new chapter in her life, and Paulus became involved in a lot of activities. The bishop of her Methodist church asked her to be a part of a missionary team going to Kenya.

“I was not a missionary,” she says. “I was a farm wife.”

Kenya had just gained independence from the British and needed a lot of help. She was one of three people from Montana chosen to go. Though in the middle of harvest, husband Willard, gave his approval: “Why not?” So off she went to Africa to train and educate women, returning two more times to help. Sometime later, she paid her own way to go to Mexico to help the people fight against communism.

Eventually, she attended mission conferences in Kenya, Singapore, and Brazil. She has helped get women elected presidents in other countries, and helped stop the fighting in Burma, and some northern African countries. She has been to Washington D.C. many times, and was invited to the Clinton inauguration. She has always voted, “even on all the petitions,” and hints that our country could do well with a female president.

“My life has been filled with all kinds of activities,” she continues.

She started piano lessons when she was “about seven,” and went on to play for Sunday school, and the church, ultimately becoming the church organist.

“I’m one of those people who, if there’s a need, I try to fill it.”

The family farm with husband, Willard, daughter, Jacqueline, and son, Ralph, encapsulates her comprehensive narrative. She drove her car well into her nineties, until a fierce wind kicked up so much dust she realized it wasn’t safe to drive anymore.

Indeed, up until she was one-hundred, she was assisting two days a week in the Choteau School listening to children read.

“I did that for fifteen years,” she recalls.

Her small suite at Brookdale Great Falls is filled with memorabilia including art pieces. Yes. She has dabbled there, too. And, happy to point out the paintings done by her grandson, Nathan, who has kept Thursdays for visiting his grandmother.

Paulus has every reason to be proud of her longevity, acknowledged by a framed certificate from Governor Bullock.

“He wrote that he is trying hard to get the state to recognize centenarians. Too many people reach this age and are in such conditions, it’s almost as if they didn’t exist.”

Over time, her connection with people has brought her great joy.

“I was involved in lots of ways doing things to improve people’s lives,” she says as she refreshes her thoughts.

“I have this urge inside of me that there is something more.” “I’m not finished.”