“They’re nice, but nothing is as good as Christmas. That’s one everyone age 1 to 100 can enjoy,” Douglas said.
Douglas was born Feb. 14, 1926, in Canton, the only child of Clifford and Hilda Stought.
“I had wonderful parents. I was an only child so I was spoiled rotten. I had two aunts who were always fighting over me, too. It was rough,” she joked.
Douglas has spent the last century laughing and joking, said her daughter, Susan Carol Roth. And spreading her sharp wit.
Roth recalled a time she was riding with her mother on U.S. Route 22 in New Jersey when they were pulled over by law enforcement.
“Before her window was even down, mom looked at him and said, ‘So you pulling me over for speeding or driving barefoot?’ He looked at us and walked away,” Roth said.
Unlike her childhood, Douglas’ adult life has been filled with a large family.
She has seven children, 11 grandchildren and 19 great-grandchildren. Her oldest child, Bruce, passed away in 2004.
When youngest child Hope Allison started kindergarten, Douglas approached husband, Walter, about adopting.
“He looked at her and said, ‘Emmy Lou, get a job!’” Roth recalled.
That statement led to a 25-year career in the then-male dominated world of real estate.
Her name appears in hundreds upon hundreds of newspaper real estate listings with Roth Real Estate in the 1970s and 80s. Most of them were sold.
Douglas said she recalls a week in which she sold five houses at once.
“I think the reason I was so successful was that I was in my mid- to late-40s and people just thought I knew what I was talking about,” she said. “And I wasn’t shy!”
Not every endeavor in Douglas’ 100 years has been such a success.
Early in their marriage, Walter was transferred to Yuma, Arizona.
“I worked at Montgomery Ward in the office and was not great at my job,” Douglas said. “My boss would smile and say, ‘We only keep you around for the laughs.’”
Eighty years later, she’s still making people laugh, whether it’s at her daily Bridge games or spending time with family and friends.
Douglas sleeps more, she said, but other than a hearing aid and a walker Roth says she refuses to use, she remains as independent as ever.
“It’s been a happy life. I was a very lucky female,” Douglas said.
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