By Sue Tiffin

Published March 15 2018

Despite the fuss being made for her with a room full of friends and family gathered and activity in the kitchen ensuring all off those well-wishers are being fed June Branning is taking her 103rd birthday in stride.

“I never counted my years” she said.

Branning born on March 9 in 1915 said she was surprised when she reached 100 but that otherwise she has lived a normal life.

“Life has changed” she says of the years since her birth which included the Great Depression and war noting that she “can’t get over” technology or the current news of the women’s movement. “We lived it. Now I sit back and watch it on TV.”

In her lifetime Branning has had three children who brought her six grandchildren 13 grandchildren and 15 great-great grandchildren. After being raised in the country on a farm she was married 58 years. Now she lives alone in Minden and though she says she is slowing down a bit compared to years past she still does much of her own cooking and cleaning.

“Some things I remember and some things I don’t” she laughs.