Padre-Lover Hits 100, Has a Party With Her Fans

Mae Murken is probably the San Diego Padres’ oldest fan. At 100 years old, she can still work up a dither when it comes to the hometown favorites.

“That’s my special team!” she said Monday when Dave Dravecky, a Padres’ pitcher, presented her with a picture of the team and a baseball autographed by all the players.

She later raised the ball in her hand and said, “This is gonna be a fastball.” While everyone laughed, Murken shifted her grip on the ball slightly, then said, “This is gonna be a curve.”

Dravecky was one of more than 50 people who braved an ugly rainstorm to attend Murken’s birthday party at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church on 30th Street. The celebration included a singing and dancing birthday message delivered by a young man in a black suit and top hat, who knighted Murken as “the oldest juvenile delinquent,” then presented her with several multicolored balloons on a string. There was also a card from President Reagan and a birthday cake that said Murken is “100 years young.”

“I’m not old, I know that much,” she said.

“For my next 100th birthday, I’d like to see you all there,” she added matter-of-factly.

Most of those in attendance knew Murken through the church, of which she has been a member since 1956.

Murken was born and raised in Fort Morgan, Colo. She moved to San Diego with her parents in September, 1910. Three years later, she married George Murken, whose real estate office was at 738 E St.

By 1952, she and her husband had moved, buying a home and real estate office, both at 30th Avenue and Dwight Street. Though she also was a legal secretary for a few years, Murken is best remembered by her friends in the parish for the years she served coffee and doughnuts in the parish hall after Sunday morning Mass, a duty she performed until about seven years ago.

Midge LeClair chuckled when she described her friend as still very alert and “a real character.” She added, “She served coffee and doughnuts in the parish for 17 years and knew every parishioner by name. It’s remarkable.”

Throughout the celebration, Murken lived up to her reputation as a character. At one point, LeClair recounted the time an elderly woman approached Murken and told her that she had recently celebrated a birthday of her own.

“Oh? How old were you?” asked Murken.

“79,” replied Gertrude Specht.

Murken playfully dismissed her with a wave of the hand.

“You’re just a child, just a child,” she said.

At another point, Murken reminisced with a friend about the time someone asked her at her 88th birthday party how old she was. Murken said when she told him, he replied, “Only 88? You look a lot older.”

“That was a pretty low blow, don’t you think?” she said with a smile.

Murken’s sharp wit seemed to be a source of fascination to many, including Dravecky.

“I hope I can see the day when I’m that old and still as bright as she is,” Dravecky said.

Though Murken’s snow-white hair and slight frame don’t hide the effects of her long life, her large eyes still sparkle like a little girl who snatched a cookie from the cookie jar while her mother’s back was turned.

After she had invited everyone back to her 200th birthday celebration in the year 2085, she said, “You know, maybe it’s kinda nice to be 100 after all.”