1 day at a time for 100-year-old Poulsbo woman

The TV situational comedy “One Day at a Time,” which was popular in the 1970s and again from 2017-2020, is also Lorene Klamke of Poulsbo’s recipe for a long life.

She will turn 100 years old Aug. 27. She gathered with family and friends Aug. 3 at her longtime home near Kitsap Memorial Park to celebrate.

When pressed to expand on the idea of a long life, she went into the litany of chores that she’d been required to accomplish as part of everyday living: waking up, washing, making the bed, making coffee, making breakfast, and the list goes on forever. She said the small tasks in life deserve attention and conscious mindfulness. Making coffee may be simple, but the doing of it is one of the elements of a life well-lived.

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As to the biggest surprise of her life, she said it was finding out she was pregnant with her sixth child at age 44.

Klamke said she was born in Hubbard, OR and the family moved to Port Ludlow in 1929 when her dad took a job at the sawmill there before moving to Kingston in 1937. Her earliest memories include her dad eating a soft-boiled egg, her lamb and pig that were pets and the smell of thyme from the cemetery in Port Gamble.

In 1943, instead of graduating from high school, Klamke got married. Her parents’ home was near Poulsbo’s Four Corners and had a dairy nearby. One of the dairy’s milkmen was a regular visitor to the home. She ended up marrying him.