Inspirational Oldie of the Week: Dorothy Custer

Grammyism: "Walking and smoking is trashy. Just sit and smoke."

Dorothy Custer, 103, was the oldest person living in Twin Falls, ID. She was born on May 30, 1911 and died on April 22, 2015. She was just a month short of turning 104. She was only 7 years younger than the town of Twin Falls, in which she grew up.

Dorothy was an American Comedian with her own YouTube channel. At the age of 100, she went on her own stand-up comedy tour.

 To celebrate her 102nd birthday, Dorothy decided BASE jumping off of a bridge 500 feet in the air  into the Snake River Canyon. Before that, for her 101st birthday, she zip lined across the same canyon.

When Dorothy was young, she rode a horse five and a half miles to school everyday. Could you  imagine? Bus not needed apparently.

Dorothy's roots are deeply buried in the roots of Idaho. Her father, Charles Cline, was born in Arkansas in 1880 and had polio, preventing him from walking until he was four. Dorothy's mother, schoolteacher Theresa Elizabeth Bailey, was born in Hailey in 1882. She boarded at the Cline home while she taught at Rock Creek School. She and Cline were married in 1905.

Dorothy explained that, "They lived in a tent that had a wood floor and walls partway up." Her family was poor, and her parents hard-working. Dorothy explained that she didn't understand how her mother did it all. Despite their poverty, they always had food to eat due to her mother's garden and her father's employment at the cattle company.

They had no refrigerator, so her mother would have to can the meat and boil it for five to six hours.

The Cline family moved often, causing Dorothy and her siblings to attend several different schools. Although she did not attend school until she was 5, the school asked if she would be Tiny Tim in the school production of a "Christmas Carol".

"That was my first stage appearance and I loved it and have been 'acting' ever since."
 
Dorothy was a woman who always wanted to be the center of attention.

In 1929, she graduated from Hansen High School, in whish she rode the horse to everyday. Dorothy then went on to study at the College of Idaho in Caldwell. She could only complete a third year of college due to a lack of money, so she took time off to teach at Murtaugh, where she taught a class of 45 sixth and seventh graders. She taught them all to play the harmonica and explained, "they were good, too."

After teaching, Dorothy worked in a Hansen service station in which she would flip burgers and sell gas. In 1935, that is where Dorothy met Marvin Custer, her future husband. He asked her when he could have a date, and she told him he could that Sunday. There he was, in her driveway, on a horse, to pick her up. She had a car and he didn't.

Since that date, Dorothy explained that "From then on, it was just Marvin." In 1937, they married.

Dorothy continued to teach until she had her first son, Gary. She wanted two boys and two girls, and that is what she got eventually. Gary, Colleen, Neal, and Carole. Dorothy explained, "I thought I had the world by the tail."

Over the next years, Dorothy became known. She dressed as many characters, such as "Granny Clampett" and "Gentlemen Joe from Kokomo." She also played the harmonica with a monkey on her shoulder that collected donations for dogs for the deaf.

For 42 years, Dorothy and Marvin farmed for 42 years. In 2005, her husband died, followed by her son Gary four years later. She was devastated and questioned why she was still alive.

Dorothy continued on, and when she turned 100, she appeared on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno. She did not believe that she would live to be 100, but she sure did. Until 103.



Dorothy Bailey Cline Cluster was a woman full of adventure who "never thought of old age and just went on living and having a good time."

"I can't see any reason why not, I'll either make it or I won't."