OROVILLE — Adorned with gold jewelry and Christmas slippers, Norma McKillop shared the story of her 100 years on earth with the help of her 75-year-old daughter, Jill Prouty.
The centenarian celebrates her 100th birthday today. She was born in Chico and moved to Oroville when she was 10 years old.
Her father worked as a butcher in Chico and later had the opportunity to work at Openshaw Meat Market in Oroville. While there, he eventually saved up enough to purchase the Town Tavern, a bar and restaurant. It’s still on Montgomery Street, but boarded up.
She fondly remembers watching silent films in the Oroville State Theatre. Vaudeville shows were put on every Friday evening for a couple of years. She frequented them. One day, she herself was asked to join the shows. She danced and sang, her dress swaying about.
She fell in love with her future husband Jack McKillop at Oroville High. He was a sophomore, while she was a senior.
“He was a good-looking guy,” she said with a chuckle.
The timeline of preceding events is fuzzy to her.
She remembers quite well, though, that she was “interested in getting with Jack,” she said with enthusiasm.
An Aug. 8, 2008 Mercury-Register clipping celebrating her 88th birthday holds the history of that period.
Jack McKillop won a scholarship to Santa Clara University to play football for Buck Shaw, the first coach for the 49ers. Many Santa Clara players joined the Army ROTC.
While he was away with the rest of the team, she went to business school in the Bay Area. When she was 20 years old, she went to work at the District Attorney’s Office. She started out at $90 a month.
In 1943, they wed. They later had two kids. The first she named Jill. When he eventually came back from war, he went to Chico State to become a teacher, but stepped back from that to help her sick father run the Town Tavern.
When the second child came along, she thought, “Well, I’ve already named her Jill. I may as well name him Jack.”
“Wasn’t that clever,” she said with lighthearted sarcasm.
She has four grandchildren and five great grandchildren. The first great grandchild was born the weekend her husband of 60 years passed away. He knew of the baby’s birth, but never got to meet her.
“He was a great guy,” she said of her late husband.
His passing did not slow her down in life. She ended her career at Minasian law firm. She worked and drove until she was 90 years old.
There is nothing in particular she believes she can credit her long life to.
“I think I’m just lucky that things came through the way they did,” she said.
She spent much of her life sharpening her mind by doing crosswords. She’d fill in nearly every blank spot. Today, she spends her time peacefully painting.
Thanks for reading Norma McKillop: Oroville woman turns 100 - Chico Enterprise-Record. Please share...!
0 Comment for "Norma McKillop: Oroville woman turns 100 - Chico Enterprise-Record"