Edna Everett exercises at Curves gym. She golfs twice a week and scored her first hole-in-one last April. She is learning to ballroom dance. In her spare time, Everett volunteers for the San Diego Chamber Orchestra and La Jolla Playhouse. Everett also turned 90 years old on Dec. 5. She was born in 1918. After a lifetime of moving around the world with her husband, an Air Force school administrator, she retired as a librarian and moved to San Diego in 1986 to join her daughter and son. “I always wanted to come to San Diego to live,” Everett said. “That was sort of a destination.” Everett moved into an apartment in Pacific Beach and quickly grew busy volunteering at the Pacific Beach Middle School’s library for 10 years; eventually the district added her to the payroll. Everett loves being able to walk to the grocery store or the bus stop. She even grew accustomed to the development of Pacific Beach that turned the one-story duplex next door into an apartment complex that blocked her view of the setting sun. Twice a week, Everett plays golf with the ladies at the Balboa Park Golf Course. She’s been playing golf for 20 years. “I’ve been playing with the same women the whole time,” Everett said. “We don’t get any worse but we don’t get any better.” When Everett has a quiet day, she pays a visit to her favorite place in San Diego: Balboa Park. She frequents the Old Globe often and is a member of the Museum of Art. Everett celebrated her 90th birthday at a cocktail party at Jean Issacs’ house which Everett had bid on at a fundraiser. Her litany of friends from Curves to the golf course, plus many relatives from the Midwest who had never visited California before, celebrated with her. Jean Issacs operates a modern dance company that performs the Trolley Dances each year, where dancers perform at various stops along the trolley line. Everett’s face lights up when she speaks of Issacs’ work, and she was delighted to celebrate her birthday at the artist’s house. Everett grew up on a typical 100-arce farm in North Minnesota (here, Everett emphasized the northern part) where her family raised cows, pigs and chickens. Everett’s grandparents had emigrated from Norway, and she follows a heritage of long lives. Her grandmother lived to be 97 years old, and her aunts lived into their mid ’90’s. After high school, Everett left for Kansas City to live with her aunt and study shorthand and typing. “I had to get away,” Everett said. “Otherwise I would have been a farmer’s wife. I had to do something.” Everett passed the Civil Service exam in 1938 and took a job as a secretary for the government in Washington, D.C. Living with two other women on the East Coast, it was an exciting time for Everett who explored the city on subway or by foot and whose neighbor took the women on weekend trips in her convertible. Soon World War II broke out, which, at first, was also very exciting. “Patriotism was the thing that was very strong,” Everett said. “There was no doubt about what we were doing. Everyone was wanted in the effort. We all felt we had contributed.” Everett said no one complained about the rationing of food or resources and that everyone was united in the war effort. A highlight in Everett’s life was attending the inaugural ball for President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1940. Everett described it as a “party.” “There was no security,” Everett said. “They encouraged government workers to just show up.” As Everett and her husband traveled from Air Force base to Air Force base (including stints in Germany and Libya), she continued taking classes until eventually she earned her master’s degree in library science at the University of Southern California. Everett worked as a librarian in Minot, ND and then in the San Joaquin Valley before moving to San Diego after her husband died. Everett attributes her good health to her healthy diet and active lifestyle. “Be born Norwegian and eat lots of yoghurt,” she said. Everett said she keeps a fresh mind by resolving to let go of her worries for the evening and enjoy a good night’s sleep. After 90 years of living, Everett advises people to keep a good attitude. “Just keep moving and love it,” she said.