Zip Code Day birthday

Mabel Indahl turns 106 on 50616

By Amie Johansen

amie@charlescitypress.com

May 6, 1910 Mabel Indahl was born in Beltrami County Minnesota. This puts Indahl at celebrating her 106th birthday today, on Zip Code Day 5-06-16.

Indahl’s first job was to care for her older family members at a young age. At the age of 10, Indahl began taking care of her grandmother.

“Basically that’s what they did back then,” Steve Exline, Indahl’s grandson, said. “The older girls would take of the older generation.”

According to Exline, during the depression Indahl’s brother was able to hold a job at Hart Parr, bringing Indahl to Charles City.

“She moved down to Charles City and worked at a cafe over in Floyd,” Exline said. “She ended up meeting her first husband at a cafe in Floyd, IA — George Exline — they got married in 1931.”

Indahl and her husband farmed north of Charles City and raised their family of six — two sons and two daughters. In 1959, Indahl’s husband passed away. At that time, Indahl quite farming and began traveling.

“We traveled to Alaska together and New York together,” Exline said. “So when my grandfather, George, died in ‘59 my grandma and I spent a lot of time traveling together.”

Exline remembers the year he and Indahl vacationed in Alaska.

“I remember when I turned 20 years old in Alaska and she had just turned 60 — that was the same year they landed on the moon, 1969 — I, as a 20 year old, thought she was quite at old at 60 and now she’s 106.”

In turning 106, Indahl has experienced a wide variety of world leaders and entertainers, though she was not one to be overcome by tabloid gossip.

“She wasn’t into politics and she didn’t go to many movies,” Donna Sievert, Indahl’s daughter, said.

Instead she found entertainment in games and sewing.

“She enjoyed bowling…loved to play cards, bingo, rummikub,” Exline said. “Up until about four or five years ago she was still beating my kids at rummikub in their ’20s.”

According to her family, Indahl also enjoyed quilting. She has made quilts for many of her family members and friends and enjoyed the craft well into her ’90s.

“She is just a very special mother, very precious,” Sievert said.

“It’s kind of hard to believe that I’m 67 years old and I have a grandmother,” Exline said. “This is quite special.”

A small, private party will be held this afternoon to help celebrate Indahl’s 106th birthday on Zip Code Day. A community party to celebrate Zip Code Day will be held at the Charles City Post Office beginning at 3:30 p.m.