Suburban Chicago woman celebrates 105th birthday with generations of family
ST. CHARLES, Ill. (CBS) -- Remember the 1933-1934 Century of Progress Exposition, which brought more than 39 million people to Northerly Island?
How about when the horse and wagon began to vanish from city thoroughfares in favor of the automobile?
You almost certainly do not remember any such things. But Ann Banas does.
Banas turned 105 on Tuesday, and there was a celebration just for her in St. Charles. Appropriately for someone who fits the title, a woman sang the 1951 Nat King Cole classic "Unforgettable" for the occasion.
Banas does not pretend to have all the answers. Often, people who live to such advanced ages are advanced what the secret is to their longevity.
To that question, Banas responded, "I have no idea."
Banas is also too humble to consider her story is worth hearing.
"So what's the big story about it?" she said. "Anybody can go there."
But since Banas is still going, she remembers things that most of us just know from old film or history classes. Her grandson, Brian Vaszily, asked her about her memories of the aforementioned Century of Progress Exposition—and indeed she did remember going.
Vaszily also noted that Woodrow Wilson was president when his grandmother was born. He knows her best stories by heart.
She played with Pope John Paul when he was just a boy, and she was just a little girl, in the town of Wadowice in Poland," he said.
Banas was born in 1920 in Chicago to Polish immigrants parents.
"I had good parents," she said. "Actually, I had very good parents."
Banas and her husband spent most of their years together on a small farm in Elburn, Illinois. They raised several children on the farm.
"Well, compared to what I'm doing now, that was play," Banas said to laughs.
The family tree that sprouted more than a century ago has grown and grown. Banas has 11 grandkids, 23 great grandkids and three great-great grandkids."
"All I can say is what a surprise—unexpected," Banas said of her birthday celebration Tuesday. "So thank all of you who's been a part of it."
Banas blew out a candle for her cake for the occasion too. With 105 years down, she is more than determined ever to keep going.
Banas lived on her own until she was 102. She now lives with a few other seniors at Inspirations Senior Assisted Living in St. Charles.
