Annette Trimble enjoys a meal at her home in an assisted living facility in Ord. (Walt Sehnert) [Click to enlarge]

It has been said that "Happiness is a state of mind." Some folks simply adapt better to their situation in life than do other folks in a similar situation.

Annette Trimble, formerly of McCook, adapts to her situation very nicely. Now 93 years of age, with aches and pains and some serious health is-sues, which necessitate her living in an assisted living facility in Ord, Annette refuses to let those things take over her life, and spends her days thinking up ways to improve life for herself and her fellow residents.

Annette is a nat-ive of Lincoln. She graduated from Lincoln High and attended the University of Nebraska during the Great Depression of the 1930s. Those were the days when jobs were scarce and even many college graduates felt lucky to find a job, any job, even outside their field of study. So when a position opened up in the Revenue Department of the State of Nebraska, Annette jumped at the chance. Through a strange set of circumstances, including the suicide of the head of the department, Annette found herself secretary to the director after just months on the job.

Like so many others have done, Annette married (Cleve Trimble) and left her privileged position to follow her husband in his pursuit of his career -- to Kansas City and a couple of other stops and finally, in 1954 to McCook, where Cleve took over the management of the Grainger Wholesale Grocery warehouse.

As she did in each move, Annette looked for a job, and landed as the Secretary to Harry Strunk, at the Republican Valley Conser-vation Association, the organization that was promoting the conservation dams in this area. The job was supposed to be a temporary position ---"Just till he could find a permanent secretary." She stayed as Mr. Strunk's secretary for six years, until his death in 1960.

Annette says she never would have applied for the job with Harry Strunk had she known more about the position. Harry Strunk was not the easiest man to work for. Between 1940, when the RVCA was born until 1954, Strunk, the President of the organization, had had 17 secretaries.

They left for a variety of reasons, from perceived incompetence, to a clash of personalities (Colleen Rutt Oswald for one), to secretaries simply moving out of town (Ann Schmidt for one). Annette could appreciate the various reasons for leaving. She said that the job required considerable adaptation on her part, and probably for Mr. Strunk as well.

Strunk could be abrupt -- with his secretary, or with the President of the United States. He was like a bulldog when he was on a mission to help Southwest Nebraska. On the other hand, Mr. Strunk invariably treated Annette with respect, and was very considerate. He agreed that Annette should not start her workday until 9 a.m., after she took her daughter, Gretchen to school. He even insisted that Gretchen should come to the office after school, so she would not have to go home to an empty house.

The job with Strunk and the RVCA turned out to be the most rewarding of her career because it was so varied -- from planning annual meetings of more than 500 attendees from all over the United States, to talking with important persons up to and including the President of the United States. And above all she appreciated working with a personality like Harry Strunk, the leader she feels should be credited with bringing the lakes to Southwestern Nebraska. That job was certainly never dull.

After Harry Strunk passed away in 1960, Sen. Don Thompson, the former Speaker of the Nebraska Legislature became President of the RVCA, and Annette stayed on as his secretary, but after a time moved to Lincoln, where she returned to the State House after a long absence, as Secretary to Murrell McNeil, the first Tax Commissioner after Nebraska adopted the sales tax.

Three years later she left her government position to take a position different from any she had ever served---that of Secretary of the Administrative Director of the Roller Skate Rink Operators of America. Lincoln, at the time was a hot-bed of roller skating, with the National Finals of the Roller Dance Competition at Pershing Auditorium, and instead of contact with politicians, as had been the case with Mr. Strunk and Mr. McNeil, she now had contact with people in the Sports Field, from the Annual Convention in Las Vegas to lining up participants to appear on the popular ABC Sports TV Show, The Wide World of Sports.

In the later years, Annette has lived in Grand Island, Burwell, and now Ord, to be near her children, Gretchen (Mrs. Ron Oberding, a District Judge, formerly of McCook), and a Son, Cleve, a Doctor now living in Valentine.

In an Assisted Living Facility in Burwell, Annette came up with an idea, which eventually led to her being named The Nebraska Resident of the Year. As anyone who has traveled to Burwell will attest, trees in that part of the state are quite scarce. This was especially true of the land immediately surrounding the Home where Annette was a resident. She came up with ideas to improve the landscaping around the home and at the same time to honor residents at the Home.

A local upholsterer, who was a friend of Annette's, casually mentioned one day that he always had scraps of fabric from his jobs and wondered if there might not be a useful way of using them. Annette and other residents began to use the scraps of cloth to cover bricks, for decorative door-stops, paper weights, etc. They sold the bricks for $1 each and used the money to buy landscaping trees. Next they planned semi-annual rummage sales. Families of residents who had passed away frequently donated personal effects of their loved ones to Annette's "Second Hand Rose." Money from that project went to buy trees in the name of those former residents.

In 2000, Annette was honored at a grand gala at Mahoney State Park near Ashland, when she was name The Nebraska Resident of the Year, for her tree project.

Six years ago Annette moved to a lovely new Assisted Living Facility at Ord, "Grandview," which resembles Elvis Presley's mansion, Graceland, in Memphis. In Ord Annette has remained busy. Her latest endeavor has been to form an exclusive Club for Residents, which she has named the "Nonagenarian Society." Each year qualified applicants are welcomed into the Nonagenarian Society with "gag" gifts, and a handsome certificate, which reads as follows:

"By Proclamation, you, (applicant's name) have become a special member of Grandview's very elite and exclusive Nonagenarian (90-Plus) Society.

"Whereas, Once we reach the age of 90, everyone offers to carry our luggage and help us up the stairs. Whenever we forget our name, someone else's name, where we live, an appointment, or a telephone number, we need only explain that we are 90.

"Whereas, At age 70 or 80, people are irked at us for everything; at 90 we have the perfect license, no matter what we do. If we act foolish, it's just our second childhood.

"Whereas, We're expected to move to Arizona or Florida, but the traffic to too fast for our fragile nerves. We ask everyone to quit mumbling because we can't understand them; we're told we need hearing aids, but at 90, they are a very poor investment.

"Whereas, Time has been good to us; we travel in cars and airplanes instead of covered wagons; we have air conditioning and indoor facilities; we appreciate our tri-focals. If we suffer gastric distress, there's always Mylanta. Commercials tell us we can depend on Depends. Our trusty walkers keep us from doddering.

"Now Therefore, When we live to be 90, everyone is surprised we are still alive? They treat us with respect out of consideration for old age -- and that's not all bad!"

"Time is the stuff life is made of." Ben Franklin