Jesse and Mabel Baker are pictured with their daughter, Sharon, as they were featured on the cover of Wallaces’ Farmer Magazine.

By Beverly Clinkingbeard

Mabel Baker of rural Northboro, Iowa, makes living 108 years look easy. On Saturday, June 5, 2021, she celebrated another birthday with family and friends at the Northboro Town Hall.

Mabel was one of four daughters born to Herman and Flora Sickman and she made her appearance in 1913. When she was two years old, her family moved from Stendal, Indiana, to a farm in rural Northboro. Until she began attending school, she spoke the language of their home country, which was German. She attended Union Grove country school and was salutatorian of the 1932 graduating class from Northboro High School – the only girl in the class.

She attended a teacher’s preparatory college in Creston, Iowa, and taught school at Yorktown, Iowa, and Lone Willow near Midway. One year she taught all eight grades comprising of 26 pupils. She also acquired an automobile from the Northboro car dealership for $600 for transportation to her school.

At Midway (at the corner of Highway 59 and J-64 on the northeast side), there was a mom and pop style gas station with a restaurant, and neighborhoods from both sides of Highway 59 would gather to eat delicious homemade ice cream, visit and play volleyball. That’s where Mabel met Jesse Baker, a farm hand, from Rock Port, Missouri. He admired her automobile. Mabel doesn’t know the make or model, but said, “It was shiny and nice.” She took Jesse for a ride in her car and they continued to find reasons to be together and married in 1939. They have a daughter, Sharon, who lives in New Hampshire with her husband, Gerry, and she has two grandchildren, Brad and Melissa.

Mabel quit teaching to be a farm wife and in 1948 they moved to the farm, where she still resides. She said Jesse took care of milking the cows, but she raised a big garden and bought hundreds of baby chicks. One year with Jesse’s help, they raised 1,000 chickens of broiler size and were featured on the front cover of the Wallaces’ Farmer Magazine.

When asked about the WWII years, Mabel remembers they had sold cattle and were south of Westboro, Missouri, when they heard the news that the Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor and The United States of America had declared war. She particularly remembered the shortage of certain products during the war years. Mabel always had a big garden and “canned everything that was loose.” For fruit that meant needing sugar and sugar was rationed. One night someone brought her sugar. She thought it was probably black market sugar, but it worked just fine for canning. She shopped locally and recalls Tucker’s Store in Westboro had everything one needed and they were always accommodating to their customers.

Once Sharon was in school, Mabel began to work outside the home. She was the first woman bus driver and drove buses for the Northboro School until school consolidation took place and she drove buses for the Shenandoah School System. She drove a bus for 11 years. She also worked at McCoy Meat Locker in Northboro, was treasurer for the Northboro Telephone Company, took the census and was postmaster of Northboro Post Office. Though she said her husband took care of the cattle (now done by the neighbor who farms for her), a few years ago she was photographed at the sale barn in Clarinda, Iowa. Her calves were on the market that day and she was there with pad and pen to watch them sell and note what they brought.

She attends St. Paul’s Lutheran Church and said she has always had wonderful neighbors. But when it was suggested they were good neighbors because she was a good neighbor, she modestly wasn’t sure about that. Mabel no longer raises a big garden, but tomatoes are a must and in addition to helping her celebrate her big day, the family is planting tomatoes in pots by her back door. As to what to attribute her long life to, she said her advice is always the same: “Eat lots of green beans and tomatoes.” Happy Birthday, Mabel.

’Til next time . . .