100 Benefits

'Red Hat' friends help centenarian celebrate big event

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Edna Goyette is enjoying the benefits of being 100 years old.

She received a letter of congratulations from the White House. Her birthday was announced on The Today Show. She can get away with forgetting what she ordered at a restaurant.

Goyette celebrated her landmark birthday with the Red Hat Pioneers at Applebee's in Clovis. The group of older Clovis and Fresno women meet once a month at local restaurants to laugh over memories and moan over aches and pains.

On June 5, they met to celebrate an early birthday. Goyette's actual birthday is June 8.

"Excuse me," one of her friends asked the waiter. "Do you remember what she ordered?"

Goyette had ordered the Dynamite Shrimp.

"That's one of the advantages of being 100," daughter-in-law Janice Goyette said. "People take care of you."

Edna Goyette spent most of her life taking care of herself. The former telephone operator still lives by herself and just recently surrendered her car keys to son Bill Goyette, of Clovis. He takes her to the post office and grocery store now. Her husband of 65 years died six or seven years ago. Edna Goyette doesn't remember exact dates, but she does remember meeting him more than 75 years ago.

She visited a restaurant in San Francisco where her mother worked as a chef. The restaurant manager, who later became her husband, noticed the young woman who was eager to help.

"Two or three days later, I got a great big box of flowers," Goyette said. "They were just beautiful. That was it."

Goyette grew up in Idaho and moved with her family to San Francisco when she was a teenager. She came to the Valley when her only son Bill Goyette settled in the area.

Bill Goyette said his mother taught him to have a sense of humor and to treat others well.

"Be nice to the operator," Edna Goyette said. "Try and be nice to people, and they'll be nice to you."

Goyette doesn't know why she's lived so long. She used to take long walks all the time, her son said.

"I don't feel any different," she said about turning 100.

The Red Hat Pioneers call Goyette an example. For most of them, Goyette's birthday was the first time they had celebrated someone reaching 100 years old. In 2004, only 64,658 Americans had attained the age of 100, according to U.S. Census Bureau data.

"She's very inspirational," said 79-year-old Pearl Wollert, of Clovis.

The Red Hat Pioneers began meeting three years ago. Most of the members are former employees or are married to former employees of Pacific Bell.

E-mail Gabriel Alexander at galexander@clovisindependent.com.