Farm girl turns 100

After a life of taking care of dozens of children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, great-great-grandchildren and hungry farm crews, Mabel Wheeler will mark her 100th birthday Saturday with fitting grace.

“That’s just how her life has been,” said granddaughter Sue Gilchrist. “She’s so considerate for everybody else that she just had to have her 100th birthday fall on a Saturday.”

Ms. Wheeler was raised alongside 15 siblings in the Moscow mountains and has lived a down-home farm girl life ever since.

She remembered packing half-gallon and gallon-sized Karo syrup buckets full of water from a...