Evelyn Wettour, 100

Downers Grove

Born in Lafayette, Indiana, she moved to Chicago’s Douglas Park neighborhood in 1926. She learned shorthand in high school and started working as a private secretary at age 17.

“I was a bit ahead of my time. When I got married, my husband said, ‘Do you have to work?’ I said, ‘I sure do.’ I loved working.” Her first husband died, and she remarried at 72. Her second husband lived to 101.

Secret to a long life: “Cod-liver oil. I watched Paul Harvey on TV when I was in my 40s, and he said, ‘Ladies, I want you to get some cod-liver oil capsules and take two a day.’ All these years and not one pain in my body.”

Best advice ever received: “Be truthful. If you aren’t, it will come back to haunt you.”

Best part of getting older: “At this age, you don’t have any taxes to pay.”

What's something you miss about Chicago in the olden days?