Cypress resident, Elsie “Florence” Archuletta will celebrate her 103rd birthday on April 26, and has seen a lot come and go in her lifetime.
Cypress resident, Elsie “Florence” Archuletta will celebrate her 103rd birthday on April 26, and has seen a lot come and go in her lifetime.
Born the second oldest into a family of 10 children in Oakland, California in 1910, a year when Halley’s Comet appeared and Archuletta lived beyond the 79 years to see it make a second appearance in 1986. As a child, she lived through the beginning of World War I and passage of the 19th Amendment, granting women the right to vote, along with Babe Ruth making his major league debut in 1914.
The mother of three, grandmother of seven (five surviving), and great grandmother of six has been a resident of Cypress since 1962. She lives with her daughters, Debra Finhandler, Darlene LeMasters and her husband, John, and mostly enjoys listening to music on her iPod, sometimes even singing. Although she suffers from dementia, Archuletta and her son and daughters have much to say about her life and living so long.
“I did some things right,” said Archuletta. “I think my faith in God helped me.”
“She never smoked and always ate healthy,” said her son Dave. “She never learned how to drive and always walked everywhere.” “She took cod liver oil and forced us kids to take it, too.” “I was thrilled when mint flavored cod liver oil came out.”
Dave attributes his mother’s attitude of gratitude in everything to have been a major reason for her longevity, and her faith in God since she was 9-years-old. “She taught me to be thankful in all things,” he said. His elder sister, Debra said she taught her to have strength through all losses and hardships in life, while youngest daughter, Darlene, said her mother has always been there and is her closest friend.
“She always had a desire to do the right thing and to please God in how she lived,” said Debra. “She’s a humble and loving woman.” “She imparted her legacy to my children by helping to raise my sons,” she continued. “I see her through my children.” Archuletta also taught music to Darlene’s sons, Jason and Bryan as well.
“I’m going to fool them. I’m going to out-live them all,” Archuletta once said to Debra’s friend.
Archuletta earned her bachelor’s degree in music from San Francisco University and took lessons from Marian Brubeck, mother of famous jazz pianist David Brubeck. She was also a songwriter, and had three published songs. She went on to teach music and kindergarten through third grade in the northern California city of Cambria, and even taught some of the Hearst family who resided nearby in San Simeon.
She and her husband once taught at the same school at the same time. She met her husband, Edward Luther Archuletta at church. A year later, after only corresponding long distance by letters, the couple got married while he was on leave from the Navy. It was the day before he had been deployed in World War II. They were nicknamed “the Blondie and the Sailor.” On one of her husband’s subsequent leaves in New York, they lost track of time and got locked into a Macy’s department store. The Archuletta’s were married for 62 years, until Edward passed away in 2005.
But for 30 years, they both went to the Los Angeles Rescue Mission once a week, where he would preach and she would play church piano. “She always was supportive of my father, allowing him to open up our home, where she would cook and where they would help people out,” said Debra.
Archuletta’s grandmother shook hands with Abraham Lincoln while he was campaigning, and her great cousin, James Naismith invented the sport of basketball for the YMCA, according to Debra. In 1958 at a Dodger game, she once caught a baseball from a policeman who had initially caught it and then threw it into the stands.
Needless to say, for more than a century, Archuletta has had a long, full life and has been blessed by and is a blessing to her family, who loves her very much.