CHESTERFIELD, MO. -- There isn't much that can slow down Virginia Hope of Chesterfield.
She carries a can on her daily walks through the neighborhood that she doesn't even need.
Virginia joked, "I usually tell people I carry this to keep the bears and the dogs and the wolves and things like that off."
Her sense of humor is just as quick as her steps. Meeting her for the first time, you'd never guess she's about to celebrate a century of life.
"They always say that age is relative and I don't feel as though I’m a hundred it just came you know, it just appeared," she laughed. Virginia is active at her age. She cleans her own 2-story house.
"This is my dust rag and I’m telling you I dust," she Illustrated as she wiped down the mantel.
If you still don't believe in her fighting spirit, just listen to how she reacted when she was told she couldn't go to nursing school when she was 63.
"They said you can try if you want to and with try if you want to those were words of battle," she explained.
Virginia graduated from Maryville University two years later.
"You’re never too old to get out and try new things," she said.
You can imagine her determination the first time she picked up an iPhone. It was frustrating at first, so she asked her kids for help.
She explained, "They don't have time they're busy with this and that and 5 other things."
Through a friend, she heard about the technology training classes at Oasis Connections.
Amy VanDevelde is National Technology Manager at Oasis.
"I was the one who happened to get the call from Virginia and she said well, I’m a beginner, beginner and I said Virginia we help beginner beginners," Laughed VanDevelde.
Amy helped make Virginia the texting genius she is now.
Virginia said, "now that I’m into texting I think it’s fun."
She surprises her family and everyone she meets with her positive attitude and energy.
"They always say, oh you're an inspiration and I say oh I don’t know about that," she smiled.
To Virginia, it’s just life, and she's she loving every minute of it.
"I don't spend much time feeling sorry for myself. I don't find anything to feel sorry about I have the world," she laughed.
For more information on classes offered at Oasis Connections click here: https://www.oasisnet.org/St-Louis-MO/Healthy-Habits-for-Adults
