County’s Oldest Resident, Mary Lee Mewis, to Turn 109 Years Old Wednesday

The years just keep flying by for Mary Lee Mewis of La Grange, who will turn 109 years old Wednesday.

“Time flies when you are having fun? Isn’t that right?,” Mewis’ granddaughter-inlaw Stacie Karstedt told her Sunday during a newspaper reporter’s visit.

Mewis chuckled. Mewis still lives in the same house on Highway 159 outside La Grange, where she’s been since 1947.

Stacie leads a dedicated group of family members who all pitch in to take good care of Mewis.

Healthcare worker Lupe Scott has also watched Mewis daily for the past three years.

Mewis still watches the Price is Right and her precious Houston Astros daily. She’s such a big fan that she’s asked the family to write down the score of every game during the season, and the starting pitcher, and keep it in a journal to study.

When night games run too late, Mewis will watch a replay the next day to catch up on her baseball. She eats a hearty breakfast every morning and loves pudding, cake and Weikel’s kolaches. She drinks water and sweet tea.

But time is catching up with her a little.

She’s increasingly hard of hearing, and her eyesight is getting a little worse.

Recently a doctor told the family that there was fluid on her lungs.

“He said he’s not giving her much more time,” Stacie said. “But she’s proved them wrong before.”

Mewis gets around her house with a walker, and likes to go outside in her wheelchair “when it’s not too hot,” Stacie said.

Mewis plans to go to Stacie’s house, near Mewis’ home, for Wednesday’s birthday party.

“We will have dinner, cake and ice cream and just be happy that we’ve been blessed to have her so long,” Stacie said.

“It’s been so great that my kids have been able to grow up getting to know her,” said Kevin Karstedt, Mewis’ grandson.

Mewis worked as a hairstylist until she was 85 and then as a cook at Dig-It Preschool until she was 95. Her husband Delmus died 40 years ago.

But she’s kept right on going and not only is Fayette County’s oldest living person, she may very well be the oldest person in the history of the county. Her age has reached such legendary levels that when family members have gone to the store in recent years to order birthday cakes or get medicine at the pharmacy (which requires a birthdate) workers often are certain they have misunderstood.

“They just can’t believe it,” Stacie said.

Mewis is likely on the short list of the oldest living people in Texas. Currently the state’s oldest woman is Winnie Phelps, 113 (she’s also the fourth oldest person in the US) . The oldest man in Texas is Georgetown’s Al Blaschke, 108.