Orem woman celebrates 103rd birthday

OREM, Utah — An Orem woman hit an important milestone Tuesday — she’s now 103 years old and still shows no signs of fading.

“I don’t feel 103, and I’m pretty active,” said Georgia Presnell, who lives in an assisted-living apartment in Orem. “I don’t run like I used to, but I’m pretty active.”

If we can look to her life as an example — know that keeping busy, living a full-life seems to account for a whole lot.

“I’ve been blessed by having the most wonderful husband and two wonderful sons, and that made my life absolutely perfect with the blessings that we’ve had,” Presnell said.

She married her high school sweetheart. They stayed together 62 years, until he passed.

But it wasn’t only her home life that was full. She maintained a busy work life, too, in many positions, until eventually she became vice president for Pacific Escrow Company in Sacramento, which she said, at the time, was the largest escrow company in northern California.

Presnell came out of retirement three different times before retiring for good at 92 years old.

Then, of course, there’s the many things she’s seen and the tragedies she says our country has been through.

“You know, the assassinations of Kennedys and the problems and the tornadoes and the problems and the wars,” Presnell said.

She’s just hopeful things will improve in the future.

She’s grateful for the life she’s lived and the time she has now.

“Keep busy. Keep a positive attitude,” she said.

Presnell said she had a tough time at first with selling her home and moving to Treeo Senior Living, but she said the time here has been great. She loves her neighbors and the staff here.