Oldest Hole in One Golfer Elsie McLean 1904-2012

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By HEATHER HACKING - Staff Writer Chico Enterprise-Record
Posted: Chicoer.com


CHICO -- Known internationally for being the oldest person to hit a
hole-in-one on the golf course, Elsie McLean leaves a more lasting
impression on her friends and family in Chico, where she lived her
entire 107 years.
McLean died Thursday in Chico.

A staple at Bidwell Park Golf Course, McLean wielded clubs for nearly
75 years.

In 2007, McLean surprised everyone, including herself, when she made a
Guinness-record-breaking hole-in-one from the fourth hole at her
favorite golf course. At age 102, she broke the record for oldest
player to ace the shot, previously held by Harold Stinson, who had
been 101.

Reluctant at first, McLean traveled with friends and family and
appeared on the "Tonight Show" with Jay Leno, as well as with Ellen
DeGeneres.

DeGeneres gifted McLean with a bright red golf cart, which she used to
drive around with her golf buddies.

The fourth hole at the golf course has a plaque commemorating McLean's
famed drive, said longtime friend Cathy Crowder.

Crowder, 87 and still playing golf, met McLean in the 1970s.

"She had such a special, special life," Crowder said of her friend,
who she visited frequently. McLean played golf three times a week
until she was age 105, and after that would ride in the cart with her
friends and occasionally hit a few balls.

Her daughter Sue Ann Romer, now in Chico visiting from Utah, said her
mother only stopped driving a car last year.

"She was sharp to the very end. She was an amazing, amazing person."

When asked over the years the secret to her longevity, Romer said her
mother's "standard answer was 'I just love people.'"

As friends her age passed away, she made new ones, Romer said.

She was also an active bridge player, which isn't an easy mental game,
her daughter said, and she loved reading.

McLean was born in 1904 on a ranch in Chico, one of nine children.
Crowder said Dr. Enloe traveled by horse to help with McLean's
delivery.

She worked as a bookkeeper at Diamond Match for 19 years, after
graduating from Heald Business College.

She met her husband Percy and the two ran the McLean's Grocery in the
1950s and '60s, at the current location of Finnegan's Jug on East
First Avenue.

A golfer since the age of 29, McLean played three days a week at the
Bidwell course, where a party was hosted for her 107th birthday in
November.

She often joked she hoped she would die on the golf course, Romer
said. "She said she wanted her friends to roll her under a tree,
finish their golf game and then come back to get her."

Her daughter said her mother and father, who died in 1996, had a long,
loving relationship.

"They met at a party and he asked her if he could take her home. She
said OK," her daughter repeated from family lore.

"On the way home, he asked her to marry him."

When her mother told the story, "she would smile and say 'three years
later I said yes.'"

She lived in her home up until February, with some help from friend
Marolyn Weibel. Romer said it was only recently that she went to a
rehabilitation home after a fall.

The family is still making arrangements for a memorial service.