Celebrating a century

Centenarian Maxine Aker recalls when she and her late husband, Bob, owned and operated Aker’s General Store in Salamonia.

Her children remember helping out at the store, which connected to the Salamonia Post Office. Her grandchildren talk about the old Coca-Cola machine and stocking toys.

Those were the good old days, said Maxine Aker.

The longtime Jay County resident turned 100 Thursday, celebrating with a gathering Saturday at CrownPointe in Portland.

Maxine (Prescott) Aker was born and raised in Salamonia. She had seven brothers and eight sisters.

“You always had your siblings on your hip, didn’t you?” said granddaughter Lori Phillips, prompting laughter from Maxine.

“Yes, I was always rocking the babies, (and) washing dishes,” she said. “I had to do that.”

Following Bob’s time as a paratrooper for the United States Army in World War II, Maxine and Bob Aker decided to invest in a small business. They purchased and opened Aker’s General Store in 1952.

According to a newspaper advertisement Maxine keeps framed in her room, the store sold a complete line of groceries, as well as meats, dry goods, seeds, hardware, school supplies, ice cream and soft drinks.

“(You had) about everything you needed right there,” recalled Phillips.

The building housed multiple services over the years, doubling as the Salamonia Post Office, where Bob served as postmaster. Family members recall when the location included a gas station and a barber shop.

“We had a lot of customers,” said Maxine, who added that she enjoyed keeping busy with the store.

Daughter Sue Reynard remembers a checkerboard and potbelly stove in one corner of the store. Indiana Michigan Power employees would stop by the store in the cold months.

“They would stop at the store, and warm up around the potbelly stove and play checkers for a while,” she said. “People always stopped at the store.”

On Saturday nights after the store closed, they would drive two hours northwest to their cottage at Royer Lake in LaGrange County, staying until around 4 p.m. the following day. Grandson Chad Aker noted a group of folks in the Salamonia area also owned lake houses in LaGrange.

After her husband’s death in 1983 following a heart attack, Maxine kept the store open for about a year before she decided to retire.

One of her main hobbies over the years has been crocheting — she made hundreds of afghans to give to family and friends. She decided to retire the hobby at 99.

“Her hands got so sore that she couldn’t do it anymore,” explained son Mike.

Maxine has been living at CrownPointe in Portland for about nine years. Word puzzles and sports occupy a lot of her free time nowadays. She tunes in to Indiana basketball and baseball teams throughout the year.

Maxine sat in her birthday throne at the head of a table in the nursing home Saturday, dressed in a tiara and sash. Her eyes flew open as a family member opened a birthday gift box that appeared to come alive with paper butterflies and other moving pieces. Partygoers sang “Happy Birthday,” and a line of folks waiting to chat with her snaked around the table.

“This doesn’t seem possible,” said Maxine, looking around with wide eyes at the family and friends gathered to celebrate with her.