Photo courtesy of Cindee Krzmarzick Marley Kuckhahn of New Ulm, left, and her mother Erna Zahn of Oak Hills Living Center are shown during a Christmas visit. Zahn celebrates her 112th birthday on Tuesday, April 14 with a drive-by celebration outside her Oak Hills window. Zahn is the oldest person in Minnesota.

NEW ULM — Continuing to display unusual health in her second century, Oak Hills Living Center resident Erna Zahn turns 112 years old on Tuesday, April 14.

Zahn just doesn’t age like most people do.

“She walked on her own until just a few months ago,” said Oak Hills Activities Director Cindee Krzmarzick. “She still comes to all Oak Hills activities.”

“She’s the oldest person in Minnesota and among the oldest people in the country and the world,” said Krzmarzick. “She is the 15th oldest person on the United States and the 55th oldest in the world, according to a survey updated every two days.”

“We have contacted politicians including Gov. Tim Walz and others that have created happy birthday wishes on videos,” said Krzmarzick. “We plan to put the videos on YouTube and create a link to it on our Oak Hills website and on Facebook.”

Zahn’s family and friends will gather in vehicles and hold posters with messages to her, outside her Oak Hills window at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, April 14 to celebrate her birthday. Everyone is invited to participate in the drive-by celebration, created due to social constraints caused by the global coronavirus epidemic.

A more traditional birthday party for Zahn is planned in the future.

“I can’t complain of anything,” she said. Zahn has credited diet and exercise for her longevity.

“I don’t skip meals,” she said at her 110th birthday party. Her diet included daily ice cream, at times with bananas and dark chocolate.

She continues to enjoy drinking coffee and read her mail, especially around her birthday when she gets lots of cards.

Erna is well known in her family for making great coffee cake.

For much of her life, she shoveled snow, which she called really good exercise.

On her 109th birthday, she rode a horse. She would ask if anyone in the area rents horses to ride.

Erna’s family members have credited her longevity to her strong faith in God, family and using prayer to overcome life’s challenges. Her relatives said she never prayed for more money.

“She’s always very pleasant, happy, no matter what is going on,” said Oak Hills Licensed Practical Nurse Jennifer Srur. “She always has a smile on her face. She’s a great person to look up to.”

Growing up in Pickett, Wisconsin, Erna was responsible at age 8 for having dinner ready each day while her mother worked in the family-owned general store. Erna has recalled lighting wick lanterns in the residence a century ago.

As a young girl, she enjoyed horseback riding, sewing and swimming, often on Sunday afternoons.

Other fond memories she recently recalled include riding in the rumble (open air, rear seat) of a car from rural Wisconsin to Mount Rushmore, S.D., while the monument was under construction.

Erna said she doesn’t remember much about life during the 1918 influenza pandemic other than that nobody in her family died from it. She was 10 years old at the time.

Erna married the late Meilahn Zahn in 1935. He was head of the Dr. Martin Luther College music department from 1962 to 1975. They raised six children.

In the United States, only 22 out of every 100,000 people reach age 100. Only 2 in 100,000 women live to age 110; and 2 men among 1,000,000. At age 105, human death rates decrease, according to the Washington Post.

(Fritz Busch can be emailed at fbusch@nujournal.com).