The Barometer Online

Issue date: 1/20/09 Section: News

Media Credit: Cory Reed Rosie Oatman is greeted by Muriel Hilliard at the Philomath First Baptist Church. Oatman, hailed as the oldest Beavers fan, celebrated her 102nd birthday Saturday.

Guests wearing orange and black sat in their chairs clapping to the sounds of OSU's band at a Beaver-themed birthday party in celebration of Rosie Oatman's life in Philomath last Saturday.

From a distance, this looked to be just another Beaver-themed birthday party until closer observation of the birthday girl triggered the realization that she wasn't the average Beaver fan.

Rosie Oatman is 102 years old.

At the First Baptist Church in Philomath, more than 40 people gathered to celebrate another year in Oatman's life.

At 102, Oatman is as popular as ever, according to the number of guests and family members who showed up for the party.

Friends both young and old came to the annual event. This year's theme was all about the Beavers - Rosie's favorite team - even though she lives in a group home in Eugene, right in the heart of Duck country.

Rosie Oatman was born in 1907 in Council Bluffs, Ohio. She moved to Oregon and graduated from the Normal School (now known as Western Oregon University) where she received her teaching degree. She served stints in World War II and spent time traveling around the country with her husband who was in the military.

Once things settled down, she spent most of her life as a teacher finding a home teaching third grade in Lowell, Ore. near Eugene. She was very active in many organizations and social groups, serving high ranking positions in the American Legion Auxiliary for many years.

"She has such magnetism," said Oatman's niece Pegge Gee who put on the party. "She was very outgoing and had a way of staying connected with people."

Gee, who lives in Philomath, began working on the party about a year in advance and said that she does what Oatman can't do because of her age. She told her aunt when she was 97 that she would throw her a birthday party every year until she died. "I didn't think she'd live to be 110," she said, "but she's worth it."

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