Local matriarch marks 105 years

Emma Gerhart has only one complaint:

"I'm deaf in one ear and can't hear out of the other," she quipped to family and friends who gathered in Sisters last week to mark her 105th birthday.

That cunning wit, along with personal fortitude, appears to have contributed to Gerhart's remarkable longevity. Or perhaps credit should go to her avant-garde lifestyle; she has been a vegetarian since the age of 30, supplementing with vitamins and minerals decades before it was fashionable.

An avid hiker, Gerhart once defected from her senior-citizen-aged hiking group for a younger club because, as she says, "they went too darn slow."

A sense of adventure carried her to at least 25 countries. She lived independently, cooked for herself and brandished a valid driver's license until she turned 100.

She has lots of family in Sisters.

The staff at Aspen Ridge in Bend, where Gerhart is the reigning Mardi Gras Queen, scratch their heads at the fact that she is one of only two residents who take no regular medications.

In a sweet, high-pitched voice that belies the strength of her spirit, she often sings to herself and, when prompted, tells the stories only she can tell. Like the story of the Civil War general who died from his battle wounds on her grandfather's plantation. Or of carefree times when distant neighbors hoofed it for miles to barn dances at her family's dairy farm, toting loaded picnic baskets to share.

Born in Sarasota, Florida, in 1905, Gerhart moved west as a young child to the fertile central valley of California along with her parents and four siblings.

She recalls a date with a boy, nearly 90 years ago: "We rode on horseback to Sacramento to see a movie. While we were inside the theater, some troublemaker untied our horse. We had to walk eight miles to get back home. The horse knew the way; there he was standing next to the barn when we got there at two o'clock in the morning."

Speaking of dating, Gerhart states that she only went out with "the good-lookin' ones." She married attorney Clarence Rust and had two children while living in the San Francisco Bay area. During the Depression years, she wielded a pair of shears and cut hair to make ends meet.

Son David Rust, inheriting his mother's headstrong nature and his father's career, became a formidable Sacramento product liability attorney involved in landmark cases that have directly influenced national public safety standards.

One such trial, which drew national attention, spotlighted the explosive nature of rear-positioned fuel tanks on the Chevrolet Corvair. Another case, in which O.J. Simpson took the witness stand, involved Rawlings Sporting Goods Co. and resulted in improved manufacturing standards for football helmets.

Gerhart's daughter, Carrol (Rust) Tosello, moved to Sisters in 1977. She and business partner Kay Alder operated Plum Pretty, a dress shop adjacent to The Hen's Tooth on Hood Avenue. Tosello's youngest son, Chris Tosello, describes Sisters in those days as "a sleepy little town where you could actually stand out in the middle of Highway 20 (Cascade Avenue) and have a conversation without getting run over. The only action in the town back then was at the B Bar B."

The year 1980 was rife with tragedy for Gerhart. In June came son David Rust's cancer diagnosis; just two weeks later, daughter Carrol Tosello disappeared while driving from Sisters to Portland. It was not until December that Tosello's body was located in her wrecked Toyota, north of Detroit Lake on the Santiam Pass. Within the same month, Rust lost his battle with cancer.

Gerhart outlived her second husband, Hank Gerhart. In 2005, great-grandson Brandon Huff lost a leg after triggering an IED (improvised explosive device) while leading an Army platoon in Iraq. He received a Purple Heart.

Gerhart makes it a habit to look forward and remain stalwart in the face of loss, and she strongly cautions against dwelling in the past.

"It doesn't do any good," she states matter-of-factly.

This latest chapter of Gerhart's life is being played out near the Three Sisters Mountains and three of her four grandsons: Carey, Garth, and Chris Tosello of Sisters, as well as five of her great-grandchildren. She marvels at the natural beauty of the area, and doesn't need to be told twice to board the bus for a scenic outing.

One might just sum up the secret to her long life in one word: moxie. It's a quality that draws folks to Emma Gerhart, partly in the hope that it might rub off on them.

After blowing out her birthday candles on the first try, Gerhart - in typical forward-thinking fashion - invited everyone to "come back for the next one."

She also had one specific birthday request:

"If you'd pour me some more wine, my ears might work better."