Outlasting her husband by about 38 years so far, Alice Mae (Wallrich) Hollingsworth celebrated her 100th birthday on Monday at her current home of Horizon Place in Le Center.
She was surrounded by some of her family, residents of the assisted living, friends, and even the Le Center Volunteer Ambulance crew members stopped in to wish her happy birthday.
Hollingworth was born May 4, 1926, in Ashton, Iowa, with her oldest aunt Maggie Zenzen delivering her in home. A rarity for its day, she graduated from 12 years of school at St. Joseph Catholic School in Ashton as valedictorian of her class.
Following high school, Hollingsworth attended school at Mankato Commercial College, which closed in 1980, to do a one-year program for secretarial work.
She was able to secure a job doing such work for the Minnesota’s state highway department with her work. It was through one of her coworkers there that she met her soon-to-be husband, Lloyd Hollingsworth.
“They had me go to their house to meet him there,” said Alice Hollingsworth. “It was kind of a blind date.” It must have worked out because the couple was married about two years later.
Initially the couple lived in Morgan, Minn, where he was a high school teacher, and then moved to Lake Crystal, Minn., after three years. Lloyd Hollingsworth spent five years as a high school teacher in Lake Crystal before becoming principal for the next 30 years there. Strangely enough, there was another Lloyd Hollingsworth that lived in St. Peter, Minn., who was also an educator who taught at Gustavus Adolphus College. “There were two Lloyds, one on each side of Mankato,” said Alice Hollingsworth with a smile.
Alice Hollingsworth took up a secretarial position in Lake Crystal with a lawyer named Tom Champlin for 24 years before she retired. She remained very active in the Lake Crystal Area Historical Society.
“She was known as the unofficial area historian,” said her son Mark Hollingsworth. “She produced a video or rather a slide show for the historical society.” The historical society group even put out a message on their social media especially for her on her 100th birthday.
Throughout Alice Hollingsworth’s life, she has experienced the Great Depression, World War II, Vietnam and other wars, and quite the technological and societal changes.
“The Great Depression didn’t...
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Submitted photos
Alice (Wallrich) Hollingsworth and Lloyd Hollingsworth sat atop a giant rock on the Blue Earth River in an area known as Spring Island or “Big Moe” just prior to their marriage about 80 years ago.
Alice Hollingsworth (left), at age 70, brought children’s clothes along on her trip to the deep forests of the Amazon Rain Forest to barter/exchange for items. She and her husband Lloyd were avid campers and travelers.
Alice Mae (Wallrich) and Lloyd Hollingsworth fresh out of the church after being married.