A St. Paul Centenarian’s Determination To Stay in Her Home and the Village That Makes It Possible

Marjorie Belmonte just turned 102 and still lives at home — alone in her pink house in West St. Paul, Minn.  And that’s exactly how she likes it.  But it takes a village.  Her children, neighbors, friends, church and a non-profit senior services organization all pitch it to honor her foremost wish to stay in the home where she has been since 1981.   Marjorie has packed a lot of living in this past century, and St. Paul Pioneer Press columnist Molly Guthrey tells this centenarian’s story of determination.