Photo by Jasmyne Ray.
Louise Callen, seated, with her daughter Lou Anne Swetonic. Affectionately dubbed “The Joke Lady” for her sense of humor with Somerby Senior Living staff and residents, Callen celebrated her 100th birthday on Jan. 17.
Louise Wilks Callen reached a milestone in January: her 100th birthday.
But the Somerby Senior Living resident said her greatest achievement is something rather different. “That my children came out good and that I did a good job for them, and that they all became good citizens.”
Callen was born in her grandmother’s Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, house in 1919, becoming the fifth of 10 children. With a good sense of humor, lighthearted approach to life and vibrant red hair, she enjoyed a playful childhood.
“It was wonderful. We always had someone to play with. We played cards a lot,” Callen said. “It just was a good time.”
At 22, her church’s social group decided to go bowling. It was there that she met John T. Wilks, an acquaintance of one of the other group members.
“Of course, when anyone new comes in, all the women run [to them],” Callen joked of Wilks’ popularity amongst the other female group members. However, the two gradually took an interest in each other. Their courtship led to a marriage, but because she was Catholic and he was not, they were married in a parish house instead of a church.
“I married a redhead and had four redheaded children,” Callen said, adding that only one of her great- grandchildren has red hair. Over the course of their marriage, Callen and Wilks had four children, who went on to give her seven grandchildren, who then went on to give her 11 great-grandchildren.
Once they were married, the couple moved in with Wilks’ mother, who would help raise their children for the next 16 years. In the meantime, Callen took up a job as a bookkeeper for a dressmaker. Although it wasn’t a particular passion for her, she learned some talents as a seamstress and would one day design and make both of her daughters’ wedding gowns.
In 1989, with their children fully grown and settled down with families, Wilks and Callen moved to Englewood, Florida, where they lived together until Wilks’ passing in 1995. Three years later, she met her second husband, Joseph Callen, while running a bridge club in Florida.
“We had a ball,” she said, reflecting on their time together. “Joe and I traveled, and gambled, and danced, and had no responsibilities. So we just enjoyed life.”
A year after Joseph passed away in 2012, Callen moved to the Birmingham area, becoming a resident at Somerby Senior Living off Alabama 119. There, she has earned the affectionate title of “The Joke Lady,” for her sense of humor with staff and residents, particularly during their “wine down” time in the evenings.
According to her daughter, Lou Anne Swetonic, Callen’s sense of humor is a trait she shared with both husbands.
“She always had a spirit of adventure, and I still admire her for taking that leap of faith and coming to live in a place where she didn't know a soul,” Swetonic said. “We thank God that she has the type of personality to jump right in and participate and make friends, and the good health to do so.”