Occasionally, I get a tip asking me to write a story about a person who, in polite circles, is called a "senior." I pass. But a few weeks ago, I learned about a woman who will turn 105 in June.

I had to visit Rose Hutchinson, who lives with her daughter, Hilary, in Beaverton. I spent time with a woman who's funny, serious and sassy, a woman who bantered with her daughter and made me curious about what her secret is to a long life.

Blueberries, bridge and a good drink.



"I enjoy wine, like daiquiris and love manhattans," Hutchinson said. "I play bridge at least once a week. I'm the oldest player, but I have no problem beating the youngsters."



As we sat there talking, I realized how easy it is to ignore elderly people. Rose Hutchinson reminded me that history, more than dates and places, is about experiences and journeys, joys and pain.

When I looked in her eyes, I saw not the woman who has 12 grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren, but the girl who grew up in Goshen, a small Indiana town where she met Tom, her future husband, while in high school. She was playing tennis with her brother when Tom noticed her and asked if she'd play with him.



"I didn't want to seem too easy," she said. "I told him the day after next. So, we did. Again and again."



They were married -- in the church on the Notre Dame campus where Tom got his degree, later moved to New York City and then, in 1944, to Bend. They were married for 50 years, until he passed away in 1993. They had eight children. She lost two.



"Mary Rose died at the senior prom," Hutchinson said. "She was 18. She was born with a hole in her heart. My son, Tom, died of cancer, when he was 65. Age doesn't change the pain I felt. You go on. There's no other way to survive."



Five years after her husband died, Hutchinson moved in with her 74-year-old-daughter, who has a master's degree in ministry from Loyola University in Chicago, but never fulfilled her dream of being a Catholic priest because the church refuses to ordain women. Instead, she worked as a band director in public schools.

"We're totally opposite," Hilary Hutchinson said. "I had a career, and she had a family."

They feed off each other.

Rose Hutchinson said her daughter's one vice is drinking too much Pepsi, adding that it makes sense because Hilary has stock in the company. Her daughter said her mother is "very attractive to men."

"After dad died," she said, "mom had three boyfriends. She outlived them all. We'd go to their funeral, and then a new man would come around to court her."

Hilary Hutchinson said she's amazed by her mother's long life. Her mom reads, attends plays and concerts and remains active physically and intellectually.

Rose Hutchinson graduated from Goshen College 84 years ago and is the oldest living alumni, which brought the college president out to Beaverton for a visit last month. She used her degree to work as a secretary for the president of an Indiana company and later was the librarian at the Deschutes County law library.



Hutchinson revels in her age. At a recent church discussion group, a man asked her how old she was. When she told him, he was stunned and said she was twice as old as he was.



What, I asked, would she tell a 30-year-old?



"Follow your talents," she said. "Find a good companion to live with for the rest of your life."



Across the room, her daughter smiled. "Mom, you didn't tell me that."



"Well," her mother said, "you didn't ask. He did."



Rose Hutchinson is realistic about what it means to grow old.



"All of my friends in life are gone," she said. "I'm the last one. But I've made new ones, all of them younger. That keeps me young. Also, I like to learn. I'm not one to sit around. I took up painting. I started with oil, but like watercolor more."



Time, she knows, is precious.

Before I left, she had a final bit of advice, one that should apply to all of us, young and old.



"What I want you to remember is the most important thing in life is to bring good to other people," Hutchinson said. "Try and do the right thing at the right time. Spread love."



--Tom Hallman Jr.

thallman@oregonian.com; 503 221-8224

@thallmanjr