Vera Keck doesn’t understand why she outlived her parents, and why her husband died 40 years ago, nearly as long as they were married.
As Keck sat in her apartment, with her daughter-in-law, Barbara Keck, nearby, she wondered about living so long without her parents and husband.
Sure, she eats a green banana and a sugary cinnamon doughnut daily as a way to stay healthy.
“Actually,” she said, “any doughnut.”
It’s more than her diet.
“I think the Lord forgot me,” she said with a smile. ”And here I am."
And what a story she has to tell.
She’s a walking encyclopedia of Hamilton history, a woman who has lived through the Great Depression, World War II, several other wars, 9/11, the Great Recession and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Keck, born Vera Hogan on Nov. 17, 1919 in Hamilton, had open heart surgery when she was 88, gall bladder surgery last year, and melanoma surgery two months ago.
Since the last surgery, she wears a hat to protect her head, and has reduced the number of times she plays chair volleyball due to the risk of the ball hitting her head.
For the last two years, she has used a walker to help with her balance.
Her daughter-in-law said Keck has a “zest for life” and she remains positive regardless of the circumstances.
“Nothing changes her,” Barbara Keck said.
The trajectory of her life changed one day when she was eating lunch with her aunt Thelma, her mom’s sister, at Milder’s Inn in Fairfield, a restaurant known for its fried chicken and a popular place for Cincinnati Reds players.
Her aunt pushed her to talk to a busboy who was working in the restaurant that day. She dated that busboy, Clarence Keck, for a few years and they married in 1942.
“We were just kids basically,” she said. “It went on from there.”
They were married for 43 years until his death.
She still wears her wedding ring. She has taken it off just once, the day she had open heart surgery.
Being with another man after her husband died “never occurred” to Keck, she said. “I had no desire.”
They have four children — William “Bill” Keck, Linda McGrath, Joanne Roesch and Marian Mayer — nine grandchildren and 16 great-grandchildren.
Keck, 81, the oldest of the four children, is a practicing attorney in Hamilton. His wife said he gets that work ethic and good genes from his mother.
She grew up on New London Road, about a mile from where Badin High School stands today. She still owns the home she had lived in since she was 2 years old, though she has rented it out since moving into Westover when she was 97.
There are five homes on the family farm and Bill and Barbara Keck live in one of them.
Keck graduated in 1937 from Notre Dame High School on South Second Street, which was then an all-female Catholic high school.
If she lives two more years, she will be the only member to attend her 90th high school class reunion.
She worked in accounts receivable at the Estate Stove Co. in Hamilton, then left to help her husband run Hogan Electric.
She has traveled extensively with family members, and when she was 90, she volunteered to line dance at local retirement communities for residents much younger than herself.
Her biggest joy is spending time with her family.
Barbara Keck, fighting back tears, said Vera is a “really good mother-in-law” who never gives advice.
Then Keck, days from turning 106, was asked for a piece of advice for the rest of us. She never hesitated.
“Live the best life you can live and thank the Lord for every day,” she said.
That’s good advice, regardless of your age.
Columnist Rick McCrabb writes about local people and events every Sunday. If you have an idea for a story, contact him at rmccrabb1@gmail.com.
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