Oldest 31er turns 103 in Henderson

Lucille Salter worked in telephone office

fred couzensviewLucille Salter, who celebrated her 103rd birthday June 27, hugs her dog Princess before the festivities got under way at Prestige Assisted Living in Henderson, where she resides.

There's a lot to be said about the health benefits of not puffing away on a cigarette or having a gin and tonic now and then.

Just ask Lucille Salter of Henderson, the oldest living 31er from the Hoover Dam construction days, who celebrated her 103rd birthday June 27 with a dining hall full of friends at Prestige Assisted Living on East Lake Mead Parkway.

Hoover Dam was built from 1931 through 1935. The workers and their families who were involved in the project from the start always have been known in Boulder City as 31ers.

"I lived a normal life," said the woman who was born in Malvern, Iowa, in 1905 and moved to Boulder City in 1931 to work for the telephone company that kept communications open between the federal reservation and the rest of the world. "I didn't smoke or drink. I just raised my family."

In an October 2006 interview, Salter recollected some of her early memories of Boulder City.

"I came to Boulder City on Aug. 31, 1931, from Ellensburg, Wash., and worked at the telephone office," said Salter, who was married to her first husband at the time. She later remarried. "I met my second husband over the phone. It was 1940, and I was working graveyard and he was a ranger who called in every hour to check in. After a while, we got friendly and eventually we got married."

That was in 1947, when Ross Salter worked in public relations at the dam.

"He took care of a lot of visitors down there," she said of her late husband, who passed away in the summer of 2006. "When I married him, we had to stay in Las Vegas a month or so until our house was finished. What I remember most about back then was there were no trees, no nothing. The buildings were pretty much up on a sand pile. I hated it very much, but I finally got used to it."

Salter moved to Prestige from her home on Elm Street a few years ago.

"I would have liked to have learned using the computer," she said." But I'm too old now and it's too hard."

Joining her for her latest birthday was her stepson Tom Cooper of Boulder City.

When asked what she does for fun these days, Salter said she likes living at Prestige Assisted Living and playing bingo, but misses her card-playing days.

"I used to play bridge all the time," she said. "I miss my bridge playing."

One of her friends said having Salter around was joy enough.

"She's a good neighbor to have," said Virginia Nedrow, Salter's neighbor across the hall, who celebrated her 90th birthday on July 6.

According to Jeanne Koester, executive director of Prestige Assisted Living, there are 56 residents in the facility's long-term care unit, and Sally Sojka, whose birthday is Sept. 27, is the next-oldest resident. Sojka is 97.