SAN ANTONIO — Jo Jaster celebrated her 100th birthday in Bulverde on February 10, sharing stories about her experiences and lessons about life.
"You learn early that life is fragile and special…and you try not to hurt anybody, ever," Jaster said. "That's about it."
Jaster shared stories about the milestones she looks back on - each one peppered with plenty of humor -- her signature. That included the memory of how she became a dental lab technician.
"I overheard my sister and her friends and they said she would be a pretty girl if she had nice teeth," Jaster said. "So I went to the dentist and I told him, I’ll never get a husband because I’m not pretty. He said, 'I’ll tell you want to do- get $24 and I’ll order a book and we’ll go together.' He was a good dentist but just in the neighborhood, mostly pull them and make bridges. So I watched what he was doing and thought- I could do that! So I was a lab technician in the Army during World War II."
She says her memories of that time are full of interesting stories.
"It was fun," Jaster said. "These were paratroopers I was gonna help. And there they’d be standing in the plane, getting ready to jump and these were just kids. I showed them how to use wax as a bite block. There were all these beautiful paratrooper men listening to a 19-year-old girl telling them how to fix their teeth."
She also shared memories of treating a famous pitcher - and of working at a school for boys, where she offered up the mantra "they're not bad, they just got caught."
When asked what she wants to share with people, she offered up simple guidance- to remember that "life is special."