Ilo Louck turns 112 onThursday, Nov. 5, 2026
Photos and article by Mary Alice Murphy
A petite woman with a brain as sharp as anyone a third of her age, Ilo Louck, nee Bly, was born on Nov. 5,1914, in Collins, Ohio. She was the fourth of 10 children, seven boys and three girls. As a result, she took care of the smaller children a lot. "I was always carrying one around. We all helped. Sure, that's the only way you could get by."
When this author commented on her brain sharpness, she said: "Yes, and that's a blessing. You know, I know what's going on and what's coming."
She said she still does her walks using a walker outside the house, and she can get around the house by herself without help.
Ilo's childhood home that she painted from emory.When she was just a child, the family's farmhouse burned down and they moved into a Victorian-style house, she told the Beat. But they still had the farm. "And you know, farmers had milk, and you raised your crops. You raised your vegetables. You canned. You canned all your stuff, and you didn't have all this junk in them."
"We didn't have anything to keep the food, no refrigerator," she said."We just put a little sugar in or a little salt, or canned them. We butchered, twice a year, early spring and late fall, and we had all our own meat and had our chickens and my grandmother had the ducks, but I never liked the duck meat. And my grandfather had sheep."
Ilo continued. "We had plenty of food that was grown, and towards the last. When after the bad times, when everything burned up, you know, and we had part of the dust storm that came from the west, and we didn't have anything that grew. It was horrible."
"Life was simple when I grew up," Ilo said"We didn't have a lot. My mother made me gingham dresses, three of them, to go to school in, and that's all we had that year. And a pair of shoes, and if the hole got in the end, she stuffed it with cotton, and then if the soles wore out, my dad put a sole on it with leather. He cut it out, and sewed it on."
They, of course, had no electricity and only outhouses. "You had to put your boots on if it snowed, because it was quite a ways from the house."
She said her mother would give her a dime and a can to take to the store about three miles away. Ilo would walk into the store and fill the can up with lamp oil, pay the dime and then carry the can home. "I had to do it before dark because all the boys were in the field working until it's dark, and if it was moonlight, they kept on going."
She said their home was not far from Lake Eire, and they used to go swimming in the lake. "My father would hitch up the horses and the wagon. He would load up his kids and take us to the beach. And one day one of the horses got loose and jumped in the lake with kids. We didn't have swimsuits. We just wore what we had —old clothes."
Ilo and Robert LouckHer husband, Robert, served in World War II, as did four of her brothers. After the war, they lived in several states, where her husband worked for the National Archives. He was involved in the identification of deceased Army Corps members.
Two of her brothers were in the Army and two in the Navy during World War II. One crossed over from Spain to Morocco and then to Tunisia, where he fought in North Africa with Monty [Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, British Army Officer.]
During the war, doing her part to support the effort, Ilo worked in a munitions factory. After the war, in the various states they lived in, she could always get a job working in a nursing home. "I noticed that these people sat and looked out a window, hour after hour, and I said, 'Oh my gosh! I hope I never get like that, just sit and not do anything.' You know, it's horrible , with no stimulation. You need help with your mind. And you need music, or you need something, to keep going, and I will keep going until I drop dead. And I don't worry. I remind myself not to worry about anything I can't fix. My mother used to say that, and I love it and just move on."
About the 10 kids, Ilo said they all worked on the farm. "We all had something to do and we didn't get into trouble. You do what you gotta do." Her mother was quite the seamstress, she said, and she made all their clothes. "I could often hear the pedal going at night."
Ilo on the bottom left and her mother top rightHer mother also taught school before she married, and she had to walk in the snow and fire up the stove, before the students got there. Sometimes, one of the older boys would go and help her.
"You know, can you imagine way back then," Ilo said. "When I went the first two years to school, we had a covered wagon that took me to school. Can you imagine that? And here I am, with all we have here now."
When asked what her favorite foods are, Ilo replied that she likes fruit. She also likes parsnips and turnips and rhubarb. "And all the vegetables, peas, beans, carrots."
She lives with her son, Jerry, his wife Sue and her great-granddaughter, 16-year-old Jasmijn in Grant County. Ilo is the oldest living person in New Mexico, as well as the oldest living member of the American Legion Auxiliary.
Always positive, Ilo Louck looks on the bright side of things. She is an inspiration to all who know her, including one of her neighbors,Lauris Goll, who says Ilo is the best friend she has ever had, and she always learns something from her.
