CHURUBUSCO, Ind. – When Thelma Leitch was born on July 4, 1909, zippers, bras and crossword puzzles had yet to be invented. William Howard Taft had been inaugurated into office four months earlier as the nation’s 27th president.

Leitch celebrated her 100th birthday and talked with Busco Voice about what it’s like to be a centenarian.

“Some days,” she said, “I feel 100. Other days I don’t.”

Her eyesight is getting worse and her back is weak, forcing her to rely on a walker, but the petite, attractive lady is still sharp.

“I remember you as a little girl coming in the store with your mother,” she said shortly after I arrived at her home and introduced myself.

That was 50 years ago.

By Viv Sade

for Buscovoice.com

Leitch was the first child of Wilbur Lee and Ethel (Owen) Cramer, born in 1909 in Swan Township, Noble County.

She was later joined by two brothers, Orlo and Wilbur, and a sister, Hilda.

Thelma attended Avilla Public School, but quit when she was a junior to marry Daniel Devoyd Leitch, often called Dan or Devoyd.

She got her first car about that same time – a single-seat Chevy Roadster. The couple married Nov. 14, 1925, and for the first few months of their union lived at Dan’s parents’ home in Green Township.

As soon as they could find a house, they moved to Churubusco, where Thelma Leitch would remain for the next eight and a half decades.

“We lived on and operated our business on Main Street for much of that time,” Leitch said.

Dan, along with his brother, Merl, started Leitch’s Meat Market not long after he and Thelma married. The market featured groceries and fresh cut meat and was located in the 200 block of Main Street in Churubusco. Thelma worked alongside her husband and brother-in-law in the store for many years – a working mother far ahead of her time.

Dan and Thelma had three children, Max – known around Churubusco as “Skip” – a daughter, Betty, and an infant son, Jackie Lee, who only lived a few days. Skip died in 2003 at the age of 77. Betty lives in rural Churubusco with her husband, Dave Bonar.

For 43 years Dan and and Merl were partners in the market. Dan and Thelma’s son, Skip, would later follow in their footsteps as a well-known and well-liked businessman in Churubusco.

“We knew everyone in town,” Leitch remembers, “and many of the people in the country, as well.”

Back in the early days of running the market, the town would come alive on Thursday nights, continuing through Friday and Saturday, Leitch remembers.

“They would pull a bandwagon up to the Point (corner of Main, Whitley and Line streets) and a band would play on Thursday and Saturday evenings,” Leitch said. “There were so many people on the sidewalk and in the streets, you could hardly walk.”

Many people would come into the store and buy groceries and ask the Leitchs to hold their groceries while they enjoyed the bands and visited with neighbors and friends on Main Street.

At midnight, the Town of Churubusco would shut off all electricity and the inky darkness would envelope the town – their signal that it was time to close up shop and go home, Leitch said.

“We always stayed open on Saturday until midnight – we were so busy! – and would then walk home through the dark streets,” she said.

Leitch’s sister, Hilda Glass, 95, a resident of Kendallville, remembers that she often visited and sometimes helped work in the market or babysat for Merl’s or Thelma and Dan’s children during the weekend festivities.

It was unheard of in those days for a business to be open on Sundays, according to Leitch. Families spent the day going to church and visiting with family and friends.

There were a lot more businesses in Churubusco during that time than today, Leitch said. “We had a railroad and a depot, a movie theater, a bakery, several department and grocery stores, Sonday’s Funeral Home, a shoe store, a furniture store, a feed mill, a millinery (hat) shop, a barber shop, an appliance store and more.”

The Leitch family would often attend the movie theater, located on the second floor above the bank. “It was mostly silent films and Pauline Wolf would play the piano for the entire movie,” Leitch said.

Leitch remembers several popular hangouts, including Pat’s Cafe and Smiley Anderson’s – an ice cream and sandwich shop.

Leitch and her sister also remember a small, glassed-in popcorn stand located for many years at the corner of Main and Whitley streets. “It was owned and operated by Clarence Brumbaugh,” Leitch said, “who was blind.”

The stand was open Thursday, Friday and Saturday and the smell of the freshly popped corn drifted up the street and right into Leitch’s market. “It smelled so good!” Leitch said. “We always had to go and get some.”

Leitch’s children were delivered by the town physician, Dr. Briggs.

Every summer, Briggs would host a reunion of all the parents and babies he had brought into the world. “He would rent the big pavilion at Blue Lake ,” Leitch remembers.

Briggs’ office was located on the second floor of the Point or Central building, along with the town library and Dr. Weaver, a dentist.

“Betty was very young, and I remember she would start crying as soon as she saw the stairs and the building, because she knew she was going to the doctor,” Leitch said with a chuckle.

Dan and Thelma Leitch owned a cottage in Wisconsin and at one time, at Blue Lake. She remembers when the lake was a hubbub of social activity.

“There were big crowds at Blue Lake every weekend,” Leitch said. A popular beach spot, there was a barbecue pit where they often roasted hogs for the large crowds. “They would serve meals and have dances in the (recreation) hall,” Leitch said.

Some of the happiest times of her involved raising her children. “I just liked taking care of them and making sure that everyone was well and happy,” she said. “Some of my best memories are of when the kids were growing up.”

During the Great Depression, Leitch remembers, it was rumored that the local bank was going to close.

“My husband went door-to-door telling everyone not to panic and to leave their money in the bank,” Leitch said. “He told them to have faith – that things would get better.”

People trusted Dan Devoyd Leitch and listened to him. The bank did not shut its doors.

During those hard times, it was very common for people to charge their groceries and then pay a portion of their tab every Saturday.

“We had a notebook where we wrote down their names and purchases,” Leitch said. “At the end of the week, they would come in and pay whatever they could. They usually paid something, even if they could not pay all of the bill.”

The economic slump the country is currently in does not compare to the 1930’s, Leitch said, but added, “I don’t know know what is going to happen, though, because it looks bad right now.”

For many years, Churubusco’s annual Turtle Days Festival was held downtown. “They would shut off the streets and put up tents and the midway right on Main Street,” Leitch said.

Her husband, Dan, died 20 years ago in 1989. Leitch likes to keep busy and enjoys wintering in Bradenton, Florida, and spending time with friends and family, which includes five grandchildren, 12 great-grandchildren and “several” great-great grandchildren.

Her advice for those under 100 years of age?

“Even though there will be many disappointments in life, you just have to go on,” Leitch said. “People should make the best of what they have and enjoy what they have.”