At 105 years old, Lake in the Hills woman remembers dancing

At 105 years old, some memories come faster than others for Genevieve “Genny” Hay.

Now living in Lake in the Hills with her daughter, Kathy Cassidy, Hay talked about her life of growing up and raising a family in McHenry County.

Hay remembers the first date with her husband, Arnold, in early 1941 or late 1940. They were set up by a friend and went to a rollerskating rink for the blind date.

“I realized he was a terrible roller skater,” Hay said.

Rollerskating may not have been her husband’s forte, but dancing was. After they married in September 1941 (and a two-year hiatus when Arnold enlisted in the Army) the couple took lessons and went out swing dancing to the Big Band music of the era. Regular dance nights, at Moose Clubs or an Elgin dance hall, included meeting up with friends to have dinner and dance, Hay said.

The attack on Pearl Harbor came less than three months after they married. Arnold enlisted during World War II, serving in New Caledonia.

He liked to draw, Genny remembers, and would sent her letters with drawing of hula girls from the South Pacific Island. She worked at a veterinarian’s office for the two years he was overseas.

“I moved so much, I lost them somehow,” Genny said of the letters.

When Arnold got out of the U.S. Army, they lived on a farm near Ringwood for five years. Arnold later joined the carpenters union as an apprentice and they raised four children together in Woodstock, in a house Arnold built, Hay said.

Hay worked too, as a nurses aid. She took classes at McHenry Community College to receive certification. At age 50, she took more classes in Chicago, too.

“It was hard, but I was determined,” Hay said of the additional schooling.

Arnold passed away in 2013, at age 95. They were married for 72 years.

These days, May spends time on the computer, reading what everyone else does on Facebook, looking up medical mysteries, and keeping her mind active.

“I like to see what everyone else is doing,” Hay said of her computer time.

Hay’s eyesight is getting worse and the computer’s screen has been giving them problems, so the computer time is more limited lately, Cassidy added.

On Sunday, her official birthday party was planned for Hebron’s Crandell’s Restaurant. “It is her favorite restaurant,” Cassidy noted. Hay’s grandsons, great-grandchildren, cousins, nieces and nephews will be on hand.