Moment in Time (September 8, 2021)

Cleo Roberts Backus was born in Columbus on October 31, 1913 to Roy and Ethel Roberts. Her family lived on a farm northeast of Hoover Reservoir near the small town of Croton. From an early age, Cleo was an avid reader, particularly of poetry. Her family related that she could recite nearly every poem that she ever read even as a centenarian. She was also quite interested in music, gaining an appreciation for opera, jazz, and music of her Irish heritage by listening to the records on her parents’ turntable beginning when she was a toddler. Since her family could not afford music lessons, she raised and sold geese in order to learn how to play the piano. Just before her 100th birthday, WOSU radio honored her as one of their oldest listeners and supporters, as she had been engaged with the station since its inception in 1949.

Cleo Backus is shown participating in an archery class in front of the Women’s Field House at

Ohio State University, from which she graduated in 1936.

After graduation from high school, Cleo enrolled at Ohio State University, earning a Bachelors degree. In an interview on her 100th birthday, she recalled: “I can remember when Taps was played on the Oval every Wednesday, a season ticket to watch the football team was only $3.50 and a cheese sandwich at the OSU cafeteria was 10 cents.” This photo shows Cleo participating in an archery class at Ohio State, before her graduation in 1936. She went on to earn her Masters degree, and after a few years enlisted in the Navy in 1943. She graduated from the Navy’s Officers School and continued to serve in the Waves in California after her deployment until the end of World War II. In 2013 she traveled on an Honor Flight to Washington to visit Arlington National Cemetery, the WWII Memorial, and the Air Force Museum.

After she retuned to Columbus, she was hired as a dietitian and instructor at the University School on the OSU campus and also worked at Otterbein College. She met and married her husband David, also a WWII veteran, in 1947. Cleo related that she bought their home at 1356 Elmwood in 1953. She was expecting their third child and wanted a home in a small town like her hometown of Croton, so one day she called a realtor who took her and her other two children to look at the home in Grandview. She liked it, so she paid earnest money, and called David to tell him that she had bought a house. He drove by on his way home from work to look at it, and it remained the Backus home for the next 60 years. David died in 1994, and Cleo remained in their home until moving to the Dublin Retirement Village.

While she and David raised their son Tim and two daughters Lois and Kristen, Cleo worked part-time at the Grandview Heights Library. When her youngest daughter attended Columbus Schools for Girls, Cleo was offered a summer job and was asked to continue into the fall. She worked in the library and taught human nutrition at CSG for 25 years before retiring in 1993 to take care of David, who was suffering from leukemia.

At her 100th birthday party, Cleo related that she wanted to live as long as her father, who lived to 102. She surpassed that, living until 105. Her advice when asked her secret to her longevity? “Live well, practice moderation and don’t smoke. And, don’t sweat the small stuff.”