Ivy Whitaker Mason Brooks was a sickly baby. Back in 1900 — the year she was born — her mother considered each day a milestone. "She is still alive," she would report at day's end.
"My mother was trained to be a nurse," said Sister Brooks days after celebrating her 106th birthday. "She wouldn't believe I have lived this long."
Now six years into her second century, Sister Brooks of the Rosedale Ward, Salt Lake Riverside Stake, isn't just living, but thriving.
Born March 27, 1900, in Bradford, England, she's lived in the same house in Salt Lake City since 1954. She still cooks and occasionally goes grocery shopping. And she can remember stories of her youth as if they happened yesterday.
Looking through old photo albums in her home she talks about her childhood: She played in an orchestra made up of Church members in England. She marched in a splendid Easter parade. She walked so much she wore out her leather shoes. She climbed dozens of stairs to get to work as a weaver. She once dressed up as Red Riding Hood.
Her decades of experience have brought her to a simple philosophy: "Never say, 'Why me?' if anything goes wrong. Don't grumble. Be happy."
The third of Ralph R. and Mary Jane Jones Whitaker's eight daughters, Sister Brooks has outlived her sisters, two husbands, and one of her two sons.
"It has got to be in the genes," said her son Byron Brooks, adding that his mother is the hardest working woman he has ever met.
"It is amazing," he said of her long life. "She is an amazing lady."
He said his mother never forgets a family birthday. He also recalled seven- and eight- course Thanksgiving dinners — all made from scratch — and said his mother cooks the best fish and chips in Utah.
She has literally seen life from the "horse-and-buggy age to the jet age," he said.
Sister Brooks, who came to Utah by boat and train in the early 1920s, remembers the first time she rode in an automobile (she was 23 years old) and the first time she saw electric lights.
Her father, who had been blind since youth, took his eight daughters to Manchester Road to see a light globe. "He couldn't see it," Sister Brooks recalled, "but he wanted his girls to see it."
When electricity was available, Sister Brooks said her father had electric lights installed in his own home and purchased an electric washing machine — something he "needed for eight girls."
"He was a wonderful, wonderful man," said Sister Brooks of her father, who made a living tuning pianos.
Although he never saw his wife, her father fell in love with her mother's voice, Sister Brooks said.
It was Mary Jane Whitaker that brought Sister Brooks' family into the Church. Having been told by her parents that she would have to choose a religion for herself, Mary Jane met Latter-day Saint missionaries in Hyde Park, England. She read their pamphlet and was baptized in London.
She later served as a Relief Society president in England, and insisted her eight daughters help with the calling. "Mother worked hard for the Church," said Sister Brooks.
That example influenced Sister Brooks, who faced numerous challenges in her long life. When her oldest son was just six weeks old, her first husband died in an accident. Speaking with characteristic tenacity, she said she just picked up and did what she needed to do to take care of herself and her son.
"The Lord has guided me throughout my life," she said. "He has watched over me."
Trusting in the Lord is half the secret to her success, she said. The other is simple: "Never grumble," she repeated. "Never say, 'Why me?' Just take what you get and try to be happy."