It’s not everyday someone turns 100 years old so join me in wishing one of our San Diego citizens a HAPPY 100th BIRTHDAY! The honoree is Lucille Brauckmuller…she is in perfect health and living at Villa Novia Country Estates in EL Cajon.

Come Join the Parade on Feb 24th, 2022

Join the celebration at the Park Parade on Monday, Feb 24th, at 1:00. You can meet in front of the park’s laundromat - come decked out and if you have a golf cart please decorate it for the occasion with lots of streamers and balloons. Let’s make this a blow out celebration that will put a amile on all of our faces and make Lucille’s day extra special. For more info on the event call the office at (619) 444-1030. 1440 S. Orange Avenue, Space 22, El Cajon, California.

LUCILLE’S STORY… How a World War Turned into a Love Story

Born Mabel Lucille Ross on the 24th of February, 1922 in Cheyenne, Wyoming.  Her parents, Evan and Mabel, had three girls, Elizabeth, Pauline and Lucille, who was the middle daughter.

Lucille’s romantic story is one shared by many young women whose men fought for our country during the turmoil of a world war.  She and the love of her life, Herb, wanted to marry.  However, Herb was still active and they were afraid that he would get into trouble.  Lucille was only eighteen and anxious that her parents would think she was too young and not permit the marriage.

They decided to elope to a neighboring town.  Upon arrival, a kind lady informed the couple that it was a holiday and the local justice of the peace was not available until the next day.  Not to be deterred, the young romantics found another way.  The kind lady found a gentleman with the authority to marry the couple.  He came to the lady’s house and with Louise’s best friend and Herb’s best friend as witnesses, Louise and Herb married September 1st, 1940. 

Still there was a huge problem; neither set of parents had knowledge of the marriage.  So for the first week the couple lived apart.  Herb courageously informed Lucille’s parents (she remembers that he was beautifully eloquent) of the marriage which continued for nearly 73 years.  Herb passed just three weeks before their anniversary.

Lucille’s father, Evan, worked on a dairy farm which he later purchased.  Lucille, her husband Herb, her sister Elizabeth and her husband, Thurman all worked on the dairy farm.  They made their deliveries with the girls riding along in laundry baskets!

In 1957 the couple relocated to El Cajon.  Lucille worked in Whitney’s (it later became Walker Scott), a local department store, for twenty-seven years.  Her nickname was “Brauckie.”

Lucille and Herb have two daughters.  Shirley and her husband, Tony, and Marilyn and her husband, John, have provided Lucille with seven grandchildren, ten great grandchildren and four great-great grandchildren. 

For seventeen years she has lived in Villa Novia treasuring the friendships she’s made enjoying the camaraderie of senior living.

SPECIAL THANKS FOR THIS STORY TO MERRY POTTER - AND HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO LUCILLE FROM YOUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY!