Celebrating Leavenworth’s Edna Anderson at 106

LEAVENWORTH – In the same year as the Allies and Germans signed the armistice ending World War I and the Spanish Flu swept the globe; during the same month as Leonard Bernstein and Ted Williams were born; on the same day as the Second Battle of the Somme was being waged in northern France, Edna Anderson, née Wise, was born in Chelan’s Union Valley community above Lake Chelan. 

Now a resident of Leavenworth living at Mountain Meadows, the centenarian, one of the oldest living people in Washington State, and perhaps the oldest in the Wenatchee Valley, will celebrate her 106th birthday on August 29. 

Born in 1918, Edna’s life has spanned both world wars, the Great Depression, the advent of modern technology, and countless cultural shifts. Anderson was raised by her native Coloradan parents, Fred and Edith (Storey) Wise in Manson as the seventh of nine children, where she and her sisters all became Apple Blossom Queens. 

In 1937 she met and soon married Wayne Anderson of Leavenworth. The couple raised their four children, Cheryl, Lynelle, John, and Ron, in Chelan before moving to Leavenworth in 1973 to farm a pear orchard on Ski Hill. Edna also purchased The Little Shop and expanded it over the years into a kitchen and gift store, moving it from 8th Street to the Obertal Mall, where it still exists today under new ownership as the Little Kitchen Shop.

One of Edna’s earliest memories is being taken to school in a horse-drawn wagon by her father whom she fondly remembers with her mother as “just the best parents.” One of her more searing recollections is when she and her family saw off to war three of her brothers: “We hated to see them go - the whole family did - because we didn’t know what was ahead of us.” Only two returned as her brother John, to whom Edna was closest in age, was killed in 1944. She later took comfort in knowing that before he died, John had received word from Edna that she was expecting her first child, Cheryl. Later, she would name her first son after her beloved brother.

Her wit still at the ready, when asked what her husband Wayne was like, she paused before quipping that “he was like most husbands.” A horseman, bookkeeper, and Edna’s escort when she reigned as Manson’s Apple Blossom Queen, Wayne died in 1994 at 80. 

Three of Edna and Wayne’s children still live in North Central Washington with one in Arizona. Edna is also the proud grandmother of seven and great-grandmother to fourteen. 

In addition to the joy her family brings her, Edna enjoys embroidery, especially the tea towels she made to give to family and friends, and canning her own fruit every fall, including her specialty, sweet pickles.

Her advice for living a good life? “Live by the good old book - the Bible.” Anderson’s longevity is a testament to resilience, community, and the appreciation of life’s simple pleasures. 

“We’re going to have a family birthday at my house this year, after a big celebration last year for mom’s 105th,” explains Edna’s daughter Cheryl, who then reflected: “We’re very lucky to have mom for this long, that’s for sure.”

Happy birthday Edna!

Caroline Menna is an intern for Ward Media and a rising senior (Class of 2025) at Cascade High School. She will serve as Editor-in-Chief of the Cascade High School Publications Group for the 2024-2025 academic year.