Daily LifeNovember 11, 2008<November 11, 2008

Franz still voting at age 102

by Hillsboro Free Press

Mary Franz doesn?t let advancing years quell her enthusaisam for voting, expecially for a U.S. president.

Franz, age 102, was at the polling station at the Hillsboro United Method Church last Tuesday to cast her ballot.

To her recollection she has voted in every presidential election since 1928, when she cast her ballot for Republican Herbert Hoover while living in Henderson, Neb.

Although the candidates and presidents have come and gone, Franz said one thing hasn?t changed through 80 years of voting: she?s always cast her ballot for a Republican.

?I guess I always like their agenda, or whatever they say,? she said. ?The other (Democratic) side is more flighty, I think. (Republicans) are more composed and quiet-like and they don?t jump around so much.?

Has she ever regretted her vote for a GOP candidate? She said yes but declined to elaborate.She was quick to identify some of her fall-time favorites, however.

?The one I liked the best was Reagan,? she said. ?I really like him. And I liked Eisenhower?that?s way back. I thought he was good.?

Franz grew up on a farm in Henderson. When her husband became an oestopath, they moved to Enid, Okla., where they operated a practice until the late 1980s.

Franz moved to Hillsboro four years ago and lives in the congregate apartments at Park Village. This was her first presidential election in Kansas, and she wouldn?t miss it.

?I always think if we can help the nation is one little way, they always say one vote counts. So then I try to vote everyt time we have an election.?