101-year-old Dorothy Gouin serves each week at the St. Vincent de Paul Food Pantry at St. Joseph in Bonne Terre
Dorothy Gouin carefully and deliberately arranged cold items in a plastic shopping bag: eggs, cheese, ground beef, canned biscuits, lunchmeat, butter, hot dogs. Each had its proper place.
Then, she tied a neat bow with the handles and placed it on a table next to her at the St. Vincent de Paul Food Pantry at St. Joseph in Bonne Terre, ready to be distributed to the families arriving for food.
Dorothy can be found at her station in the food pantry every Monday morning. At age 101, it’s one of the ways she stays active and connected to the parish.
The team of Vincentians and other volunteers serves about 220 to 250 families per month at the food pantry, St. Vincent de Paul conference president Dave Orzel said. Dorothy has been there longer than just about anybody.
“She really is an amazing lady,” Dave said.
Dorothy moved to Bonne Terre in 1924 when she was just 15 days old. She and her family were parishioners at St. Joseph, where she also attended school through 12th grade. Two of her classmates also lived to be 100, she noted.
After high school, she enlisted in the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) to serve during World War II.
“Mom took me to St. Louis, where I was inducted,” she said. “The date I went in was 4/4/44.”
As part of the WAAC, she traveled and did clerical work alongside other women serving in a variety of noncombat roles. When the war ended, she went to live with friends on the East Coast, working in clerical jobs in the insurance and restaurant industries over the next several decades.
In the late 1990s, she moved back to Bonne Terre and started looking for opportunities to volunteer. She started delivering meals for the Bonne Terre Senior Nutrition Center and serving at the St. Vincent de Paul food pantry.
Dorothy doesn’t drive any more, but that hasn’t kept her away from the parish. She gets a ride to the food pantry every Monday and to Mass on Sundays and Tuesdays, where she enjoys connecting with her fellow parishioners.
And at home, her prayer routine is well-established.
“I say the Rosary every day,” she said. “And when I pray, I always (pray) for those in my address and telephone book.”
Linda Wright has been volunteering alongside Dorothy at the food pantry for the past two years. “This is the sweetest lady I’ve ever met in my life, and she’s a very hard worker,” she said. “For 101 years, you are amazing,” she told Dorothy.
Linda and Dorothy chatted as Linda took over bagging the cold foods, giving Dorothy a chance to rest for a little while. Dorothy pulled out a deck of cards — she’s rarely without one — and starting dealing them on the table for a game of Solitaire, a favorite way to pass the time.
Linda: “It amazes me that at her age, she can still sit here and do all of this and come back every time. She never misses,” she said. Smiling at Dorothy, she told her, “The Lord put you here to inspire the rest of us.”
Each day, Dorothy asks God “to give me help with my mind, my eyes and my body,” she told Linda. People sometimes ask for advice on aging well, and she keeps it simple: make sure you eat protein at each meal. Keep praying.
As far as her age — 101 and counting?
“It’s only a number,” Dorothy said.
