100th birthday party in Grayslake draws a crowd

More than 100 people on helped Julia Karkenen of Zion celebrate her 100th birthday after the worship service Sunday at Living Waters Church in Grayslake.

“She's terrific,” said Senior Pastor Richard Valkanet of Lindenhurst. “They've been in the church for over 20 years, and until just about a year or two ago, she would come here in the summer, sit on the back of a bucket, and she would pick weeds out of the garden for us, just so the church would look nice.”

Karkenen grew up in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan on a small farm without electricity and moved to the area in 1991 with her daughter and her husband, Valkanet said.