Alex Strickland/Bigfork Eagle

Blanche Seecombe and her youngest son Bob, 75, celebrate her 106th birthday on Saturday at the Lake View Care Center in Bigfork.

Bigfork woman celebrates 106th birthday

By ALEX STRICKLAND

Bigfork Eagle

Blanche Seccombe has seen a lot of surprising things in her life, but perhaps none more so than seeing her 106th birthday.

Seccombe, who celebrated 106 years on this earth on Saturday, Nov. 17, lives at the Lake View Care Center in Bigfork, close to her two children living in Woods Bay.

Born in 1901 near Los Angeles, Seccombe spent much of her life in California before coming to Montana.

For a little perspective, when Seccombe was born, Teddy Roosevelt was president, the first transatlantic radio signal was sent and received and Australia became a country. Seccombe was a teen during WWI, middle aged by the second World War and nearly 70 when Neil Armstrong walked on the moon.

And for bearing witness to so much history, Seccombe cites the things most people take for granted today as the biggest, most life-altering changes: indoor plumbing and electricity.

Seccombe looks younger than she is, but perhaps the most remarkable thing, according to her son, Bob, and others at the care facility, is her mental acuity.

"Still having her mind is the most amazing thing," said Bob Seccombe, her youngest child at 75.

And the secret to a long life according to the 106 year old?

"Bacon."

"I eat a lot of bacon, never eat cheese and laugh a lot," she said.

Her son added that if it was sweet or salty or fried it was probably a staple of Blanche's diet, to the dismay of physicians.

Seccombe said that two years ago for her 104th birthday, she received a card from an "undertaker parlor."

"Maybe I should send them one," she said with a laugh. "And let them know I'm still here."