By Amy Bowen

St. Cloud Times

Ruth Noack always makes sure her makeup is just so, her clothes match and her fingernails have a fresh coat.

Noack’s cheerful outlook hasn’t changed in her 107 years of life.

That’s right. Noack, of St. Cloud, might be the oldest person in the state. Her family certainly thinks so, and Noack is adamant she was born May 29, 1904.

That’s more than 39,080 days of being alive.

Noack, while a bit hard of hearing, can remember everything from graduating from high school in 1922 to her latest birthday party May 29 at the de la Pointe restaurant in St. Cloud’s Le St-Germain Suite Hotel.

Yet, Noack wonders what all the fuss is about. It took prodding from her family and friends to tell her story.

“You are an inspiration, Ruth,” her friend Rosemary Burk of St. Augusta said.

Noack laughed.

“I’m just an ordinary soul who gets up in the morning and does everything ordinary people do,” she said while sitting in her room at St. Benedict’s Senior Community. Bouquets filled the room and birthday cards still arrived more than a week after her birthday.

Noack was born in Green Isle, and then moved to Arlington. She spent her life there until 2002 when she moved to St. Cloud to be closer to her youngest son, David, 76, of St. Cloud. Her three sons range in age from 83-76.

“Can you imagine sitting here with a son who is 83?” Noack asked.

Noack doesn’t pay much attention to historical dates when thinking back. She would rather think about her family and other experiences, she said.

For instance, she attended teachers college in Mankato, and then taught school in Olivia.

It was difficult to find a job back then, Noack said. The Olivia teaching application asked if she knew anything about choir and band. She said she did, even though she had no experience. Her reasoning was simple. She never tried to teach music, so she didn’t know whether she could. She might as well try, she said.

Noack taught two years before marrying her high school sweetheart, Maurie. They were married for 62 years before he died in 1988. She keeps a picture of him on an end table.

Together, they traveled the world, she said. In fact, they have seen most of the world’s historic places, she said.

“I had a great husband and children,” Noack said. “I’d say I have a great life.”

Noack’s life continues to be full. Her sons and their families keep her busy.

She likes a glass of white wine now and then. Her drink of choice was brandy when she was younger, she said.

Her daughters-in-law still bring her new outfits to try on. She has always loved clothes and enjoys keeping up on the trends, she said.

“I like to shop,” Noack said. “It’s my work.”

But her occasions to dress up have become limited.

“When you get to be 107, your social life diminishes just a little bit,” she said.

There is no great secret to living to 107 years, Noack said.

But she has a theory.

“The angels from heaven are down,” she said. “They’re riding around on my shoulder. They’re here, but I’m hard of hearing, so I can’t hear them” calling her to heaven.

Her son David Noack is happy to keep celebrating birthdays. His mother still buys large tubes of toothpaste, so she’s not going anywhere, he said.

Laughter also might help keep Ruth Noack young. She likes to pull pranks and tell jokes.

“I have a sense of humor,” she said. “It keeps me alive.”