BISMARCK, N.D. -- Amanda Klinger can remember when Bismarck and Mandan were not connected by a bridge, and people had to use a ferry boat to cross the Missouri River.
Klinger celebrated her 105th birthday Monday in a Bismarck nursing home.
She rooms with her 84-year-old daughter, Verdell. Her 91-year-old sister, Ruth Lindblum, also lives in the home.
Amanda Klinger's parents came to the United States from Norway. She was born in 1904 on a farm near Elbow Lake, Minn., before the family homesteaded in North Dakota the following year, living in a sod house.
She remembers growing up on the farm near Voltaire and later Turtle Lake, but farm life wasn't for her. She said she decided, "I'll never marry a farmer because I didn't want to live on a farm."
Klinger has 14 great-great-grandchildren. She says she feels great.
As for any advice, she says, "Live from day to day, I guess. That's about it."
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
