Community: She’s seen more than 100 Christmas days

It’s the most wonderful time of the year for Burbank resident Leora Wilson, who turned 102 on Sept. 13.

She lives with her daughter Diane Wilson-Leggewie and granddaughter Jessica. They get along quite well in spite of the age differences. Their lives are filled with love and lots of laughter because they never know what witty zinger mom or grandma will toss out next.

Recently, Diane Wilson-Leggewie spent the day simmering soup on the stove while she lovingly set out the family’s holiday decorations — a tradition her mom started when she was a child.

“I’d go to school and when I came home, everything would be put up,” she said.

There is a collection of characters from famous literature, such as Mother Goose and other children’s nursery rhymes. The set of Disney characters is back on the dining room table, and the centerpiece is a sleigh that Wilson acquired some 55 years ago.

“I like to dress it up with fresh greenery cut from a tree in the backyard,” Wilson said.

“We’ll do that when it gets closer to Christmas,” her daughter said.

Wilson is looking forward to having the family over on Christmas Day. She has four children, 11 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren, but most years the house is packed with up to 40 relatives who come from Lake View Terrace and as far south as Dana Point.

Back in the day, Wilson and her husband, Lorin, moved to Burbank in 1941 into a house on Evergreen Street, where their first child, a boy, was born.

To accommodate their growing family, they moved to a house on Griffith Park Drive. By 1960, two more boys and a girl were added to the brood, so the family moved one block east to Mariposa Street, and that’s where the three ladies continue to live with their two dogs and two cats.

Throughout her life, Wilson became involved in community work. She served on the election board, was a member of the Burbank Emblem Club, was a den mother for Scout troops and was an active member in the PTA.

“She was constantly baking for whatever school function or extracurricular event needed cookies, cupcakes or whatever,” Diane Wilson-Leggewie said.

All four children, along with seven of the grandchildren, attended Burbank schools. Currently, there are five great-grandchildren in local schools.

Her life is fairly quiet now. She reads the two Los Angeles daily newspapers from front to back everyday and Burbank Leader twice a week, usually with a cat curled up at the foot of her bed.

“I like to read it all because you have to get the total picture of all the topics,” Wilson said.

She continues to do the crossword puzzles in each of the papers, in pen, and never fails to share with her family something funny she has read.

Wilson spends the first few minutes of each day having coffee.

“That’s the best taste in the world — that first cup,” she said.

Her daughter brews a pot of Seattle’s Best and flavors it with Splenda and Carnation liquid creamer.

“It’s heaven,” Wilson said.

Wilson still loves her garden and often goes out in the backyard to water places her daughter has missed. When her son comes up from Orange County, they sit in the swing, look out at the yard and talk.

“When I was younger, I worked in the yard every day,” she said. “It was exciting when you’d get it done.”

Her pride and joy are her pink and orange hibiscus bushes in the backyard.

She enjoys reading biographies and her favorite book is about Lauren Bacall.

“She reads that book over and over,” her daughter said.

Wilson also has a great love for Turner Classic Movies on TV. Her other favorite old-time actresses are Vivien Leigh and Olivia de Havilland.

When she was younger, people thought Wilson closely resembled Elizabeth Taylor.

“I didn’t know who she was at the time, so I didn’t know if it was a compliment or not,” she admitted.

Her modesty shined after asked if she ever thought about becoming an actress.

“I’m a follower, not a leader,” she said.

Before she met her husband, Wilson was living in Fresno and became part of a trio of young women who traveled up the West Coast promoting Chiclets gum. They distributed samples to customers dressed in green uniforms.

During that time, Wilson met a talent scout seeking actresses for a movie. She did a reading for him and he wanted to hire her.

“But I had already been working a good job for three years with Chiclets, and movies couldn’t assure you a longtime job,” she said.

So she turned down the opportunity, but kept the man’s card. She threw it away only recently.

Wilson doesn’t get to church much anymore but she has her favorite TV pastors who she watches weekly. Those shows feed her soul, she said.

Her favorite foods are hot dogs, pizza, chicken pot pies, split pea soup and See’s candy, but she recently switched from the suckers to the chocolates with cream centers.

This year In-N-Out burgers have been added to the mix, which she can’t seem to get enough of, her daughter said.

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JOYCE RUDOLPH can be reached at rudolphjoyce10@gmail.com.