From the historic Capitol fire to Wii bowling, Salem resident recalls 101 years of life

Last year, in celebration of living to age 100, Ina Van Lydegraf took to the skies.

Van Lydegraf spent her centennial birthday in a hot air balloon above the Salem area, where she was born and has lived most of her life.

“It’s so quiet up there. You’re above the trees and you don’t even know you’re moving. I looked down, and I could see the highway and the Willamette River,” she said. “We were up there for about an hour. I almost hated to come back down.”

Van Lydegraf turned 101 this year, on Sept. 20. The latest birthday celebration stayed on the ground. She and her family visited Swan Island Dahlias near Canby, then had dinner at her son’s house in Dallas. 

“He made the peach ice cream that I have made all the time before,” she said. “I gave him the ice cream freezer and the recipe, and he’s been making it every year since.”

Though some things – like homemade ice cream – happen annually, the longtime Salem resident has seen plenty of once-in-a-lifetime moments.

She spent her infancy in a home on a five-acre property on Northeast Lancaster Road. Today, it’s a busy street and the location of the Original Roadhouse Grill. During Van Lydegraf’s childhood, she said Lancaster was unpaved gravel. 

Her father was a carpenter, and she grew up in various homes throughout Salem.

An early childhood memory, from 1935, is the day smoke rose from the Oregon State Capitol building. Her father had been working on the roof of their home on 20th Street, and saw it burn. 

“I didn’t get to see it, but he saw it. Then he took us over to see it afterwards,” she said.

When Salem Reporter asked what high school she attended, she laughed. There was only one — Salem High School. The “North” was added to the building in 1954 after South Salem High School was built. 

It’s where she met her husband of 72 years, L.J., in history class. 

She said her favorite things about her husband were “almost everything.” She’d always pictured marrying someone who could make repairs around the house, like her dad.

“My dad could do everything. And I thought, ‘Now I’m married to somebody, and what can he do?’ Because he was only 19, and I was 18 when we got married,” she said. “Well, I found out he can do almost everything, too, but it just took a little longer.”

Her husband served in the Army in World War II, both in Europe and the South Pacific according to his obituary. He then owned gas stations in the area for 20 years, then D & V Hardware in Keizer for 12 years.

They had three children together, who she said were a handful. Her son once climbed on the counter and drank cleaning fluid, sending him to the hospital where he got his stomach pumped. She laughs about it now.

“He was always getting into trouble,” she said.

Van Lydegraf said she’s proud of her kids, two of them now living in California. She has her daughter’s artwork hanging in her Salem apartment, including a detailed painting of a ship at sea from high school. Her daughter’s teacher had wanted to buy it, Van Lydegraf said, but her daughter had made it for her mom.

Along with raising their kids, Van Lydegraf sold Avon cosmetics for twenty years, and was a caregiver for her mother, and her husband’s father.

“I didn’t have much time for anything else,” she said. “But they’re part of the family, and you take care of them when you can.”

When her husband retired in 1985, they spent their winters RV camping throughout Arizona, at the invitation of one of her good friends. They did that for over 25 years, and ended up buying a home in the Phoenix area to use as a home-base for their travels in the state.

“We just wanted to see all of Arizona, and we did,” she said.

She still has friends from those years that she talks with over the phone.

“It’s nice to keep track of friends that you’ve had for so long,” she said.

She and L.J. lived at the Salem Greene Estates mobile home park for 13 years before his death in 2016, at age 92. 

“My husband was the one that wanted to live to be 100. I said, ‘I don’t want to stick around that long,’” she said, and laughed. “Guess who’s still here.”

She moved into The Springs at Lancaster Village seven years ago, and her apartment has memories from a century of life. Her own sepia-toned baby picture hangs on the wall, next to a photograph of her three children.

A lot has changed since 1924.

“That, for one thing,” she said, pointing to the TV mounted on the wall of her apartment. “When I was little, all we had was radio. We never got a television until the kids were about 5, 8, years old.”

One of her favorite activities at The Springs is bowling in Wii Sports.

“I bowled for 20 years when we were living in Keizer. I was on the league,” she said. Wii bowling is a decent substitute for the real thing, she’s found: “You still throw it, but that’s all.”

She has five grandchildren, seven step-grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. Aside from video games, she enjoys visits with family, and audiobooks.

In her 101st year, Van Lydegraf said she’s looking forward to “waking up, every morning, right here.”

Contact reporter Abbey McDonald: [email protected] or 503-575-1251.

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