At 102 years old, Carol Landow is one of the oldest residents at the Peace Village Independent Living community in Palos Park, and now she’s among an elite group of centenarians who are first time book authors.
“I didn’t want to quit until I had it all done,” she explains.
The book is called “The Adventures of Missy”. It’s a children’s book inspired by her grandchildren’s cat that went missing in the woods and turned up at their doorstep a week later.
She says wrote the story for them, and that she dedicated its completion to them.
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“They are so far away, I hardly ever get to see them and so this will be my legacy to them," she says.
Landow had written a rough draft nearly 20 years ago, and says she largely forgot about it. But early last year, she decided to finally finish the project, and coincidently, Peace Village was offering a writing and illustration class.
“That was to me a message from God to do it,” she says. “By signing up for it (the class), it seemed like everything fell into place.”
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She started working on the book anew last spring. Her daughter helped her with the illustrations, and her friend Debi Pope helped her navigate the computer. She would spend at least two hours a day working.
“I didn’t even mind getting up in the morning. I was like 'oh, now I can try another page,'" she says.
Landow completed the book in shorter order, and sent the manuscript to the publisher last fall.
Roger Ellens, CEO of Peace Village is proud of Landow's achievements, and hopes her example encourages others.
“She’s very inspiring to everybody," he says. “It’s never too late. There are many people here who started painting in their 90s.”
“It’s a miracle that I did it," Landow adds. "I don’t know what tomorrow will bring but today is fine.”
All proceeds from the book benefit a charitable fund to help Peace Village residents who have outlived their financial resources. You can purchase “The Adventures of Missy” in Peace Village’s Gift Shop.
