By Mick Holien
Emma Lommasson has been my friend through just a few of her birthdays, probably five or six, and I have written a few stories with Centenarians.
But as I age myself I think I appreciate more of the kind of wisdom that such folks have to impart.
And in the case of Emma I have absorbed more than my share.
I am not by far the only person who spends time at the Village with Emma but I want to tell you I got way more out of our relationship than what she contends she did.
I have heard about when they first got electricity at her childhood home in Sand Coulee where they were so poor she could only dream of going to college.
Dirt poor were the Bravo family to the point that when lavish floral arrangements in honors of her birthday arrived, she struggled with people spending money on such things because she vividly remembered her comeuppance.
She told me how she learned to drive by just watching her dad at a young age and when she had the opportunity knew just what to do much to chagrin of her mother but with the full confidence of her father.
And when she received $25 a month when she was enrolled at the University of Montana that was an abundant amount of money.
A few years back Emma demanded of Terry Hober, who grew up in her neighborhood and used to shoot out street lights as a youth that she had to meet me because she had listened to me on the radio for many years andlet’s face it the rest is history.
We have been fast friends since that day when we lunched with my friend Rose at the Country Club beginning weekly talks and occasional visits sometimes with former coaches. There are a handful of school presidents she didn’t know personally.
When I had a stroke three years back into rehab marched Emma, every hair on her head meticulously placed since it is still fixed every week, a pleated skirt and walking with a purpose. I cherish that sight.
The secret we share to living a long and fulfilling life? Surround yourself with young people.
The video by Brianna Roy on Facebook had more than 14,000 views at this writing.
That is the kind of influence she has had and the imprint she has made on the Alma Mater she loves.
Some kind of run Emma. Just sayin’