For the last several years Neil Steinberg of the Chicago Sun-Times has done a piece of Edith for her birthday. The first was when she was 107. Each has been a treat, but I think this piece for 110 tops the rest for charm and joy.
He does a wonderful job capturing her spunk and vitality, as well as the loving banter that is the regular routine between her and Alice, her daughter. It is a touching glimpse into how strong minded and determined she is. One might even say that she is tenacious and resolute – exactly why those words are on the opening page of the book!
As her big day approaches, I’ve been doing all I can to help more people learn about her incredible life and, if they are interested, find their way to the Renfrow book. After doing some research about marketing for self-published books, I decided to venture into the world of TikTok. I’ve got mixed feelings about this platform, but for whatever reason it has become a major influencer in the book world. There is a huge trend for “booktoks” that can have a big influence on booksales. So I figured it was worth a shot.
As I want to keep the focus on Miss Edith and not so much on me, I decided I’d do a series of short videos looking at each of the pages and sharing a bit of the background and insights into each. Here’s one of the videos as an example. I’m also reposting them to the book Facebook page and my Instagram if you’re on either of those.
My favorite new word is supercentenarian, referring to a person who is 110 or older. In Neil’s article today he speculates that only 1 in a million people, possibly 1 in five million, reach the age of 110. So we all know she is pretty special – this just confirms how truly incredible she is.
If you’re in the Grinnell area, I hope you’ll consider joining us for a celebration on Friday night in honor of our dear friend. She will not be with us in person, but we will be channeling her spirit and celebrating her big day with cupcakes and balloons and a chance to be a part of a birthday video we’re putting together to share with her on Sunday. You can also bring a card and we’ll add it to those that will be personally delivered to her on Sunday. Come celebrate this wonderful lady – she’s one in a million!
The Renfrow Story 
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