A yankee doodle dandy at 95

“I led the whole parade,” said Christine Blackmer, speaking of the event on the Fourth of July in Bangor this year, which also happened to be her 95th birthday. “I’d never led a parade before and probably never will again.”

I wouldn’t be so sure. Christine has an enthusiastic and adventurous spirit that allows her to accomplish anything she sets her mind to.

The Walter Hunt Memorial Race on the Fourth of July is a perfect example. Flanked by daughter Phyllis Bishop and niece Anita Zayas, Christine walked the 5k to the finish line – just ahead of the parade, which was set to begin when the last entrant completed the race. There were four generations of the family participating that day.

“It was a dream of Bruce’s, my younger brother,” said Bishop. “He wanted to have the oldest and youngest in the race, so Mom was the oldest and Haylie [Blackmer], 10, Bruce’s granddaughter, was the youngest.” Both of them got medals.

Regardless of age, no one had more fun than the birthday girl.

“I loved it,” Christine said. “I told all the kids on the sidelines that it was my birthday. I had a ball. They all waved and clapped. Isn’t it something to have your birthday on the Fourth of July?”

Seems fitting, given Christine’s independent nature.

Born Christine Bates on the “hottest day of the year” in Haverhill, Mass., she was fourth out of five girls, and sure she would carry on the tradition.

“My mother had five girls and her mother had five girls and I thought I would, too, but I got a surprise,” said Christine, referring to the arrival of her fifth child, a son, Bruce. “I was glad, though, because I wanted the Blackmer name carried on.”

When she was growing up, Christine’s family moved around Massachusetts quite a bit, but one town proved lucky. In Jamaica Plain, at 13, she met Roger Blackmer, and at 20 eloped with him.

The happy couple moved to a log cabin in the Maine village of Lucerne in 1932 – one of three cabins in the area that were owned by Roger’s parents. While Christine set about the business of having babies, Roger was a self-employed jack-of-all-trades.

“He could do everything,” she said, pride in her eyes.

But times were lean and when Bruce was 7, she went to work.

Christine was town clerk of Dedham for 20 years, a notary public who performed 89 weddings – including that of her daughter, Phyllis, and an employee at McGary Optical for a couple of decades.

Sadly, Roger had a heart attack in 1962 and passed away at the age of 50. It was the lowest point in Christine’s life, but all the while she kept working.

Not one to let her grief get the best of her, she decided it was a big world out there and she wanted to see it. She started saving her pennies and three years later took a tour of Europe, having so much fun that she decided to make traveling a regular occurrence. Just about every year, Christine went looking for new adventures.

And she found them.

“I love the water,” she said. “I love being on the water or near the water.” That would explain the number of cruises.

Christine took several trips on the Windjammer ship “Mercantile” and spent a week on an Aegean Sea cruise. She also sailed on a Greek liner to the Caribbean.

That’s not to say that dry land holds no appeal. Christine has stepped foot on much of this country, including Hawaii. And in 1974, during a trip to New Mexico, she walked halfway down the Grand Canyon, back up, and then took a plane ride through the canyon.

While her “world traveling” days may be behind her, Christine is still busy as the matriarch of five children, 23 grandchildren, 32 great-grandchildren and six great-great grandchildren.

“I love kids. You could bring a 100 children in here and I’d have a ball,” she said, with a sweeping arm movement as though all 66 descendants would fit in her apartment at the Ellen Leach Memorial Home in Brewer.

“They’re just wonderful here,” she said of the facility. “They have two vans and are always taking us places. They post trips and I sign up right away. I sign up for everything. I’m going to keep on doing that ’til I either go to heaven or hell.”

Either way, she’ll be having fun.

“My motto is, ‘I’m going to be happy if it kills me, and it hasn’t killed me yet,” she said.

A lesson for all of us. Perhaps that is the true secret to a long life.

Carol Higgins is director of communications at Eastern Agency on Aging. For information on EAA, call 941-2865, e-mail info@eaaa.org, or log on www.eaaa.org.