Morgan Hill resident Maxine Nelson, a former cattle rancher whose family ran livestock on what is now Cinnabar Hills golf course just west of town, turned 100 last week, and she offered a straightforward line of advice for anyone who hopes to live for a century.
“Stay as long as you can,” Nelson said at her birthday party at Ladera Grill in downtown Morgan Hill, surrounded by four generations of family members.
Those family members aren’t surprised Nelson has lived this long, considering she shows almost no signs of slowing down. Nelson lives in a two-story house, cooks her own meals, exercises regularly and even occasionally enjoys a glass of wine or sherry, said her granddaughter Natallie Kuskie, also a Morgan Hill resident.
“She attributes her longevity to working hard, living outside and having fun all the time,” Kuskie said.
Nelson added, “I played golf a whole lot, and I have a really good family.”
Old black-and-white photos of Nelson illustrate her penchant for having fun. One depicts a young Nelson, fishing pole in hand, with a freshly caught sailfish – longer than she is tall – hanging next to her. Another shows Nelson posing in front of a snowy Yosemite National Park backdrop, next to a car with three sets of skis leaning against it.
Plus, longevity seems to run in her family and among others who have surrounded her over the years. Two of those in attendance at her birthday party were her cousin Maybell Rasmussen, 95 of Gilroy, and sister-in-law Jane Packard, 83 of Gilroy.
Nelson’s niece, Karen Christopher of Gilroy, said she has enjoyed watching her aunt and other relatives “age gracefully and beautifully” over the years.
“It makes me feel young,” she laughed.
Nelson became a second-generation cattle rancher in Morgan Hill when she became old enough to help at the Nelson Ranch in west Morgan Hill.
Her jobs on the 880-acre ranch which is now a golf course included cooking enormous meals for the ranch hands, who numbered quite a few in those days, and helping to herd individual cows single file through metal chutes so they could be branded, Kuskie said. The family, which also ran a slaughterhouse at the Morgan Hill ranch, used to deliver meat to Rocca’s and Milia’s markets, located in San Martin and Gilroy, respectively, Nelson recalled.
“On the ranch it was busy all the time. Everybody helped out one another,” Nelson said.
Karen Christopher’s husband, Gilroy garlic magnate Don Christopher – whose family has also farmed in South County for multiple generations – said his folks and the Nelsons used to run into each other at the Santa Clara County fair as far back as the 1940s.
In the 1960s, Nelson and her husband Frank L. Nelson, Jr. (who died 22 years ago) sold the Morgan Hill ranch and retired to Pebble Beach, where they spent their days playing golf, Kuskie said. They eventually bought another cattle ranch in the Big Sur area, on what is now the beach-side Andrew Molera State Park.
Nelson’s nephew Greg Nelson, 62 of Selva Beach, vividly remembers visiting his aunt and uncle many times at the Big Sur ranch when he was a child.
He added attending “Aunt Maxine’s” 100th birthday last week was “very special,” as she is the last aunt or uncle he has left on both sides of his family.
Nelson moved back to Morgan Hill about 10 years ago, Kuskie said.
Briefly attending Nelson’s party was Mayor Steve Tate, who arrived to declare April 11, 2013 as “Maxine Nelson Century Day” in Morgan Hill. He read an official proclamation in the centenarian’s honor before Nelson and her dozen or so family members cut the birthday cake, which was decorated with a miniature pyrotechnic sparkler display.
One of her presents was a few bottles of homemade beer that Nelson made many years ago. “Maxine’s Famous Scandahoovian Home Brew. Delicious, Delectable, Tantalizing,” read the custom label.
“It was pretty strong,” Nelson confided.
Nelson’s great-grandson Christopher Keyser, 20, said Nelson’s health at 100 doesn’t surprise him.
“I’ve lived with her about 10 years, and she’s never needed assistance walking or anything,” Keyser said. “It makes me feel good about the future.”
