St. Marys Resident Turns 105

St. Marys resident Julia Kabance, a longtime member of the We-Ta-Se American Legion Post 410 at the Prairie Band Potawatomi reservation, will be celebrating her 105th birthday at 2 p.m. Saturday in the Potawatomi administrative office at 16283 Q Road in Mayetta. The event is open to the public.

Kabance, who served in the Women’s Army Corps from 1943 to 1945 and was in the Adjutant Corps stateside during her service, is one of the oldest American Indian veterans in the United States.

Kabance was born Aug. 10, 1910, on her family’s farm at the reservation, according to news reports. She was one of 12 children born to Frank and Mary Kabance. She attended Kewanka grade school and Holton High School before enrolling at Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence.

After a year at Haskell, she enlisted in the Women’s Army Corps in 1943 and was stationed at McChord Air Force Base near Tacoma, Wash. After she left the service in 1945, she volunteered several years at the Colmery-O’Neil VA Medical Center in Topeka.