JANE CHARMELO PHOTO
Mabel Larson, who lives at Lexington of Lombard, celebrated her 106th birthday on Saturday, July 25. She went to work at age 14 cleaning apartments and waiting tables, and attended Morgan Park High School. Larson, who grew up with two sisters and three brothers, said there wasn’t a lot of time for play. “My mother kept us busy,” she said. Caregiver Elena Topel, shown here with the birthday girl, said everyone at Lexington loves Larson, adding that her resident knows the names of other residents and those of their family members. Topel said she has learned “kindness and niceness” from Larson, who still plays bingo. Larson lived through the 1918 flu pandemic, saying she lost an aunt to the disease. Commenting about the current COVID-19 pandemic, she said, “I hope they wipe this out.” Larson related that at this point in her life, though, “I have nothing to worry about.”
