Ask Hubert Bescheinen if she's got a secret for keeping things going this long, and he'll say, "she won't tell you."

Ask Pauline Bescheinen if he's got a similar secret, she'll say, "Oh, there's a lot of secrets."

It's clear she won't even start talking about them. It might be, the best secret is knowing how to keep secrets. Pauline Kremer started learning, and keeping, secrets 100 years ago.

She was born May 15, 1921, to Gustave and Mary Kremer on a farm near Loose Creek. Except for a few Depression and wartime years in St. Louis, she's a lifelong resident of Osage County. As a girl, she walked to and attended school at Immaculate Conception in Loose Creek. She's one of the few who remembers life without electricity and running water. In rural Missouri, her generation learned to cook and bake on a wood stove. There was also a lot of sewing, gardening, canning, and butchering, all part of making it as a family. The St. Louis time was spent as a nanny and a household caretaker.

During World War II, through friends, she met Hubert. A radio repairman in the United States Army Air Force, he was home on leave. The family thinks the couple was set up, but it worked. The two wrote to each other, and when he left the Army, the two were married in 1947. Before the wedding, he opened a radio and appliance sales and repair shop in Loose Creek. It turned out okay. Now it's known as Bescheinen Family Furniture. The newlyweds lived upstairs in the store building, built near the current location. They still live on their own although there are a lot of children, grandchildren, and friends coming by on a steady basis. She worked in the store until the children, Vivian (Carwile), Marvin, and Steve arrived. Vivian says, "We had the normal 1950's baby boomer upbringing."

One of the lines popular in the store in those early days was sewing machines. Pauline was the official demonstrator. She was a full-time wife, mother, and 4-H project leader, as well as whatever else was needed. She enjoyed doing it all and the children enjoyed the fruits of her sewing, knitting, crocheting, and quilting. There was also the garden, and home-canned fruits, vegetables, and jelly.

Pauline continues to be an active member of the Immaculate Conception Church. She has served in several offices in the St. Ann's Sodality, and on the parish council. She and Hubert are charter members of the Osage County Historical Society and have traced both family trees back several generations. The Bescheinens were some of the first to reconnect with relatives in Germany after the war. Family members have traveled there to visit. They have also hosted relatives and friends traveling from the Old Country.

Generations of the family continue to be a constant pleasure. There are nine grandchildren and 19 great-grandchildren. So far, there is no talk of great-greats, at least not in the near future.

A centenarian is bound to know some bad times as well as good. There is steadiness and tranquility exhibited by Pauline Bescheinen. Staying in good health all the way through it requires something special. She knows things about life others simply don't. Just don't expect her to reveal the secrets.