By Brett Milam
Editor
Hazel Honaker is one of the few Americans alive who has experienced two once-in-a-century pandemics — that’s because she will be 103-years-old on Jan. 30.
Honaker, who was born in 1918, two months prior to the 1918 flu pandemic, which killed at least 50 million people, including her grandmother, doesn’t remember much about those days. It was more like a pall cast over her mother’s memories washing ashore Honaker’s nascent ones.
Much like today with COVID-19 and the safety restrictions in place, Honaker said her mother couldn’t even go see her mother at that time.
A Clermont County girl most of her 100 years, Honaker grew up in Lindale, a little southeast of the former village of Amelia.
Her father, Clayton, owned the Hancock farm, which he moved to in the 1800s. Honaker was born on that farm and was originally a Hancock.
Honaker said her grandfather was part of the Lillick’s family, who came here from Germany to Portsmouth in the 1800s but “they didn’t like the area too well,” so they came down the river on a raft to New Richmond and settled up on the hill.
At the time, it was the Roaring Twenties of a different kind, with “Silent Cal” Calvin Coolidge as president, Black Friday wasn’t exactly a shopping extravaganza, and only a third of Americans had the landline telephone.
The Sun last spoke to Honaker on the occasion of her 100th birthday in January 2018, and upon talking to her ahead of her 103rd, she laughed and said, “Well, I haven’t changed too much. I’m still able to talk a lot.”
These days, Honaker lives at the New England Club, retirement apartments in Hamilton County, and by her telling, she runs the place.
“I told the fella that runs the place the other day, when he needs help, just call me because I’d love to work for him,” she said. “We have a good time, though.”
As for now living through COVID-19, another once-in-a-century pandemic, which has killed more than 400,000 Americans, Honaker said, “It’s miserable, is all I can say.”
Prior to the pandemic, Honaker enjoyed going to the exercise room for 20 minutes three times a week. In five minutes, she would do 1,000 steps.
“Nobody keeps up with me,” she said.
For the most part during the pandemic now, aside from doctor appointments, Honaker stays in her room.
“They’re making us as comfortable as possible and bringing our meals to us and so forth, but it’s lasting a long time,” she said.
One mainstay through all the historical ups and downs has been Honaker’s religion — she taught a women’s Sunday School class for 30 years — and she still reads the Bible every day.
“So, I keep in touch with God and He keeps in touch with me, and so we get along really well. That’s my day starting out and that’s been my day for years and years,” she said.
To pass the time otherwise, Honaker likes to knit and crochet, and she’s also taken up the care of violets on her windowsill, which, crucially, she said only needs three ice cubes once a week to be satiated.
When knitting, Honaker likes to knit baby hats, and slippers for “practically everyone” that works at the New England Club. She even joked with The Sun, “How big are your feet?”
“I’ve made everything I know to make,” she said, laughing. “I’ve still got yarn though; I could start up again if I wanted to. But it’s just that, you get bored. I do not like television that well, so I don’t listen to that. I would listen to some music, but I don’t have a radio, so I don’t listen to that.”
Everyone remembers there was a run on toilet paper when the pandemic first began in March 2020, but there was also a run on puzzles. No stranger to puzzles, though, Honaker sticks to the 300-piece ones to fit the table she has.
Still, Honaker said she did everything she knows to do, and is even getting “kind of tired” of the puzzles, too. When she gets tired of the little jigsaw pieces, she can turn to numbers, as she’s also quite fond of Sudoku.
One bright spot on the horizon, perhaps as soon as this month: Honaker is set to get the COVID-19 vaccine.
Honaker isn’t new to vaccinations against deadly viruses. At age 11, she received the smallpox vaccine. In 1921, 100,000 cases of smallpox were recorded, but within 30 years, thanks to the vaccine, the disease was eradicated in the United States, and by 1977, from the world.
Prior to receiving it, though, Honaker’s mother was concerned about the vaccine, worried it might kill Honaker.
“All the parents were very, very frightened … finally, my mother gave in, and I was glad now that she did,” Honaker said.
Almost 100 years later, that concern about vaccines is still salient among the population, despite their safety and efficacy.
“But I’ve went along with everything that come along with and so far, I’ve been okay,” Honaker said. “I think I’ll be safe with this one [the COVID-19 vaccine].”
What keeps Honaker going is that … she’s going.
“I find many people think of their age and then they think, ‘Well, I don’t think I should be doing that,’ and so, they sit down. I don’t think I ever got to that place in my life,” Honaker said. “I always had something to do and I think that is the answer: Too many people sit down and retire too early. I haven’t yet.”
Even though the pandemic has confined her largely to her room, Honaker said she still tries to use her mind with the puzzles and such, and she still tries to walk every day.
“I do not sit in my room all day,” she said. “I think if you start sitting around, you’ll get so you have to sit around.”
Honaker said she wants to take care of herself and doesn’t want anyone else to do it, if she can take care of what she needs to do.
“So, keep on working and keep on using your mind. I never thought of retirement; everybody else was, but I wasn’t. So, I just kept going,” she said.
Back for her 100th birthday, Honaker said the special treat she wanted was Skyline hotdogs. For her 103rd, she said she hasn’t worked up much of an appetite, though.
Even so, for her birthday, the Club has a celebration planned with some of Honaker’s friends at the Club, and there will be cake.
One of those friends includes Mary Alice Pollitt, also a longtime Clermont County resident who turned 100 in 2020. They’ve known each other since attending Amelia High School as seniors in 1937.
At the Club, there’s also expected to be a drive-by parade with family holding signs and balloons.