ABOVE: Mary Conklin sits at the First Presbyterian Church Organ, which she has been playing every Sunday since 1940.

WINNEBAGO – For Mary Conklin, playing the organ at First Presbyterian Church on Sundays has been a constant since she started at 17.

When Conklin was 17, America was gearing up to enter World War II in 1940. Both organists who played at First Presbyterian Church were leaving with their husbands, who got defense factory jobs in Omaha and Moline. With someone needing to fill in, Conklin was given the advice that would change her life.

“The Alto sitting beside me in choir said, ‘Mary, why don’t you learn to play the organ?'” she said. “I was a pretty fair pianist, but I had never thought about playing the organ. I went up on Sunday afternoon and explored it a little bit, and explored it a little bit more, and the Methodist organist came and gave me a little tutorial on the different parts of the organ.”

Conklin continued to play the organ and work a part-time job until the 50s when she went to college to fully learn organ and get a Christian education. For Conklin, all the facets of organ playing have kept her enthralled.

“I enjoy all of it,” she said. “Learning new music, playing music, playing for services, playing for whatever. I can just lose myself. I can sit at the organ for three hours exploring new music, playing some old, and figuring out what I’m going to play next Sunday.”

And that’s not the only thing she does either. She sorts books at the church’s thrift store, is a treasurer for the local women’s association, recently became Bible study leader and writes a monthly column for her son Steve Conklin’s Zimmerman, Princeton and Milaca Today newspapers. Up until 100, she had even continued to drive.

Conklin said staying active and involved in her community feels wonderful.

“I think how blessed I am,” she said. “It’s a special privilege to be able to do this and be independent at this age.”

In addition to her activity, Conklin has a sharp memory. She remembers when the stock market crash of 1929 started the Great Depression. Due to how young she was, Conklin said she didn’t quite grasp what had happened at the time.

“My dad came home at noon and said, ‘Hogan’s bank fell today,'” she said. “I went to school, and I looked down Main Street. I couldn’t see anything [laying] in the Street. I couldn’t see how the bank could have fallen. I didn’t understand about finances.”

Around that time she also remembers the family receiving a pack of pencils from Calvin Coolidge’s presidential campaign. Conklin said they had Coolidge’s face on them, and she wished she had held on to one of them.

Thinking on everything she has seen come and go in her life, Conklin said what she likes most about the present is all the labor-saving devices now available. Tasks like laundry, which can now be done easily with modern machines, were all-day tasks when Conklin was growing up.

“Monday was wash day,” she said. “When I was very young, my mother washed on a board. She had the three tubs, and one of them had the scrub board. Most people nowadays have never even seen a washboard. You had your bar of P and G soap that you rubbed on the board and it was an all-day job.”

On the flip side, what Conklin wants to make a comeback from days gone by is a strong sense of neighborliness.

“I knew who lived in every house for two blocks all the way around where we lived,” she said. “Everybody did. We knew everybody’s name and a lot more. I don’t know who lives across the street from me now. There is that difference in community feel.”

Looking forward, Conklin wishes to continue living by the words of Jimmy Carter and do whatever she can, wherever and whenever she can, for as long as she can.

“It has made a pretty happy life,” she said. “I’ve enjoyed it all. I’m a permanent optimist. I always see the cup as half full rather than half empty. There have been sorrows and rough times, but it’s all been worth it.”

As for her secret to living long, Conklin said she was blessed with good genes from her parents.