DEMOTTE – In her 100 years on Earth, Faith Little has traveled to many places, but Lowell has always been home, and God has always guided her life.
Born on Aug. 29, 1925, at her family’s home in Lowell, the daughter of George and Marie Stark, she was the youngest of four living children (two other siblings died). A cradle Catholic, she remembers her father attending daily Mass and her family as parishioners at St. Edward in Lowell.
“I attended Lake Prairie and Sheridan grade schools, and then graduated from eighth grade at Holy Name School in Cedar Lake, while I was living with my grandmother,” Little recalled. “I also graduated from Lowell High School, which was then located in the red brick building downtown, in 1943.
“I loved school, and I was active in sports,” added Little, who soon went to work at the Pick and Whistle restaurant in Lowell, where “I had to do everything. Bill Weaver, who owned Sinclair in Lowell, offered me a $100 bonus if I came to work for him in the office and stayed at least a year.”
Little’s life soon took a major turn when she married Verle Little, who graduated two years ahead of her from LHS, and moved to his family’s farm in unincorporated Lowell. “That’s where I lived my whole life,” she said, before moving to Oak Grove Christian Retirement Village in DeMotte after being sidelined by a broken ankle.
“We were married in the Catholic church rectory, because Verle was a Presbyterian and his mother was a strong Presbyterian who didn’t really like me. She and I later got close,” added Little.
While her husband, who passed away in 2000, ran the farm, she spent her time raising a family of seven children born within 14 years – the youngest five in five years. The family was once featured in “Successful Farming” magazine thanks to Verle Little’s progressive farming techniques.
“She raised all seven of us Catholic, starting out at St. Edward and later moving to nearby St. Helen in Hebron,” said son Joe Little. “We never missed church on Sunday, and she had to get all seven of us up, dressed and fed before going to Mass.”
Little “set a goal” to raise her children Catholic, and led by example. “I showed them how I wanted them to grow up, believing in God and being good people,” she said.
The family home added a telephone – with a party line that let all the neighbors listen in on each other’s calls – even before they got electricity, but the most memorable addition was an in-ground swimming pool Verle installed himself with a concrete bottom and thick, corrugated metal walls during a remodeling of the house in the 1950s.
“It was my husband’s idea; I didn’t want it,” Lille recalls. “So he was going to build it away from the house on a hill, and I said ‘No, if you’re going to do it, it has to be next to the back door (where the children could be closely watched).’”
Verle Little used the pool “almost every day,” said his wife, and their children and grandchildren made good use of the pool, too. “My children swam in that pool before it was finally filled in,” said Dori Little.
“It took a lot of work; it had to be sealed with a thick silver sealant,” added Joe Little.
“It was quite the thing in its day,” admitted Faith Little, who made it as safe as she could. “My children’s friends could only swim if they brought a parent with them. I wasn’t a very good swimmer.”
During her later life, Little did plenty of traveling, visiting Norway, Italy, England, Ireland, France and Mexico. “We won a corn yield contest to get the trip to Mexico,” she noted. She and her husband also began wintering in Florida in the 1970s, first in the Everglades and later acquiring a mobile home in Astero on the Gulf Coast. “We were able to do that after Joe came to the arm,” she said.
“Verle went fishing almost every day, while Faith took up golf. “Mom was in two leagues and got a hole-in-one,” said Joe Little. “She was in a foursome and went looking for her golf ball when one of her friends said, ‘It’s in the hole. That’s why you can’t find it.’”
She also returned to office work at Osburn Insurance in Lowell and obtained her insurance license. Her former boss, Mary Osburn, is now an Oak Grove neighbor.
Little began her milestone birthday during the week of July 4, when all seven of her children and their spouses, and most of the rest of her family, including nine grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren, gathered at the farm for a family reunion.
During her actual birthday week in late August, her children visited each day and there were two birthday cakes and special “100” cookies that were distributed to her guests, including longtime friends who still gather with her regularly at Oak Grove to play pinochle.
Meanwhile, daughter and son-in-law Peggy and Bob Bushore live in the main house on the family farm, while Joe and Dori Little occupy the hired hand’s home.
While golfing afforded Little the notoriety of a hole-in-one, her family believes she has been an “ace” all her life.
“We had a 1962 red Chevy station wagon, and mom ran the wheels off taking all of us to all of our activities,” said Joe Little of his childhood. “She was very dedicated to her family.”
Caption: Faith Little (front), began her 100-year birthday celebration at a family reunion on July 4, where she was joined by all seven of her children (from left), Bob, Linda Ebert, Terry, Peggy Bushore, Tom, Joe and Jack. The festivities continued through her actual birthday on Aug. 29. (Marlene A. Zloza photo)
