Ruth Everson started playing piano at five years old. Today, nearly a century later, the 103-year-old is still tickling the ivories for eager listeners seven days a week.
"You meet a lot of people playing the piano," Everson told John Lauritsen of WCCO. "And I'm a people person. I like to be happy."
As a child in central Minnesota, Everson's family had to sell a cow to purchase a piano. In 1938, she became Paynesville Lutheran Church's first organist. Now she performs every day during lunch for fellow residents at her assisted living facility.
Everson's friends claim the daily concerts are her secret fountain of youth.
"She's an amazing lady," Kathee Martinson told WCCO. "She's told me it's the reason she gets up in the morning. She has something to do and we would be disappointed if she wasn't here."
Everson takes requests, including from residents who are nearing their final days.
"People will say they want a certain song played when they are passing away. It makes them happy," she told WCCO.
"You make people happy and I like to be happy," she added.
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