At 103, Vikings fan Isabelle Montgomery still wants "a Super Bowl under my belt"
WHITE BEAR LAKE, Minn. – Isabelle Montgomery has been a Minnesota Vikings fan since they came to town in 1961. She is now 103 years old, and devoted, and realistic about her team.
The 1961 Vikings, who captured her heart, was led by one of her all time favorite players. In fact, she's got several favorites.
"[Fran] Tarkenton, Ahmad Rashad, Harrison Ford … Harrison Smith!" Montgomery said.
Cut her some slack. On the day the Vikings lost to the New York Giants, she turned 103. And she had another Vikings quarterback as her special guest at her party at the White Bear Lake Legion Club: Tommy Kramer.
"I was really thrilled. I couldn't believe that he came," she said.
Montgomery lost her husband 17 years ago, and still lives in the house where they raised eight children. She has her kids, grand kids, great nieces and friends over regularly.
"They play a lot of cards. I had a card party here today, and we play twice a week over here," she said.
Not bad for a woman who survived a pneumonia scare just last year.
"Even after pneumonia, when she said she's never going upstairs again, she miraculously made a recovery a year ago, and started going back upstairs, having card parties," daughter Donna Peterson said.
But how does one get to 103? Don't ask. You can't explain it.
"I don't want to be bragging and saying, 'I don't drink, I don't smoke [laughs],' so I'm not going to say that," she said.
She has a jersey from the team for her commitment to being a fan. But what advice can she give the younger demographic, who have not endured the heartache that it really means to be a Vikings fan?
"They can take it if I can take it," she said.
But even Montgomery is growing short on patience, given the fact they just missed on another playoff and Super Bowl opportunity.
"I wanted a Super Bowl under my belt when I go up there, or down there," she said.
