Alice (Hagler) Conner has lived her entire life in the Callaway/Arnold area, and it has been a long and happy life. Alice was recently joined by friends and family as she celebrated her 100th birthday at her home in the Callaway Good Life Center.

To sit down and visit with the centennarian is a treat. She was born in 1926 in Holt County, and shared that at the time of her birth, her parents were operating a small store while the owners were away. When she was two or three years old, her parents relocated to Pleasant Hill near Arnold where they took over what was then the Phoenix store.

“I’m not sure how they found out about that store. My dad probably heard it some place, so they came down,” Alice shared as she began recounting her life story.

Pleasant Hill is located 11 miles east of Arnold. “It’s not there anymore,” Alice added.

The family moved into Arnold when Alice was 11-years-old, and she attended Arnold school from fifth grade until she graduated. She grew up with a brother who was four years younger. Following her graduation from Arnold High School, Alice went to Lincoln to college. However, shortly after starting college she got sick and underwent surgery to have her appendix removed.

“So then I came home after that to rest,” she said. After recovering from her surgery Alice opted not to go back to Lincoln, and instead moved to North Platte and went to work in a store there. She remained in that job for a few years, enjoying young life on her own.

When asked about meeting her husband, Alice giggled as she recalled that night. “I went to the movies and he saw me there alone, and after the movie was over we went outside and he started talking to me. He just kept talking, and that’s when it began.”

She and Billy Ray “B.R.” Conner, known as Bill, were married on May 1, 1945, and her first son was born in 1948. Together, they raised four children - two boys and two girls. Sadly, she has lost two of her children, Dennis and Marla, both in their adult years but young.

The young couple resided in Arnold all of their years, where Bill and Alice’s father partnered and purchased the local John Deere dealership.

“My husband had been in the service and was a mechanic for the airplanes,” Alice explained. “I was working in North Platte at the time, and on the weekends we would go over to Arnold to visit my folks, and he and my dad got to talking. My dad was a pretty good guy to help, and my husband couldn’t have done it without somebody helping him.”

All of these years later, she still vividly recalls the incident that took her mother from her. It was 1965, and her mom had gone with a local church group to North Platte for a meeting. “The minister was driving the car and they were on their way home, and they got side-swiped. Out of the six in the car, four of them died,” Alice recounted.

Alice’s oldest son, Allen, still lives in Arnold, and her brother’s son also still lives there. Her youngest son, Bobby, lives in Brule.

She lost her husband, Bill, on Dec. 18, 2004, and moved into Callaway Good Life Center in 2017.

“I just live day by day, one day at a time,” Alice chuckled when asked if she ever thought she would see 100.

She has always loved to play cards, and filled her years with going to her kids’ activities as they were growing up. “My husband was good at putting in a garden, but he wasn’t good at taking it out,” she laughed. “So I had to do that part.”

Playing bridge has been one of her favorite pastimes over the years. When asked if she still plays, she quickly responded, “I would like to!”

As for her secret to longevity, Alice said, “There are two places that talk about that in the Bible. If you want to know about living longer, you need to look it up.”