Many questions were lost in the desire to ask them all. We asked about what we could at the time, and we could have inquired further had time not interfered. 

“You were driving until you were 92-93, is that right?” 

“I quit driving in 2016. I just decided it was time to quit. I didn’t have any accidents or anything that caused me to, I just thought I’m 90 years old, it’s time to quit buzzin’ around after driving through that red light… I thought, I think this is time to call this quits. And Doug was nervous, he wanted me to quit right away. I had the chance to sell my last Cadillac, goodbye, and now the lady who bought it has Alzheimer’s, so I wonder who will drive it, but I figured one of her kids would.” 

The topic of Leota’s neighbor, Hazel, resurfaces, as at the age of 109 she is in great health. 

“She comes down and eats at my table once a week when she gets her hair fixed. Her niece brings her, and I think the niece comes – here I come, saying things I shouldn’t be – she comes for the attention she gets because of Hazel. Because she’s so much smarter than… well, she’s not near as smart as Hazel is. Now, I’m surprised she wasn’t there yesterday, and if she was, I didn’t see her, but I’m sure I didn’t see her.” 

At this time, I found out that Hazel is, in fact, the oldest person in South Dakota, according to gerontology.fandom.com. 

“Well, I swore that when she had that birthday. And the governor wasn’t smart enough to give a day of celebration for somebody who lived to 109 years. My gosh… one time I heard there was someone at the age of 115. But they’re not still alive. If you come back, I will introduce you to her. She is a beautiful lady. She always keeps herself done. She gets her hair done every week, and she has the blackest eyebrows – I used to always say at Parkwood, “Hazel’s late, she’s still painting her eyebrows on!” Now, I don’t know if she does them or if they’re permanent. But those eyebrows are always on. She used to live down the hall from me in Parkwood, now she lives across the aisle from me.” 

We ended the interview shortly after.