Pasadena resident Raisa Eli, who celebrated her 103th birthday on Thursday, still has memories from a time most will only ever read about in a history book - Russia's 1917 Bolshevik revolution.
In the above video from the Pasadena Museum of History, Eli recounts highlights of her life, including her very earliest memories of World War I, the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917 when the country's Communist Party came to power, her subsequent life and education in China and then fleeing to United States.
The video is part of the museum's Centenarian Project, recording oral histories of local elderly residents. Over the last two years, the museum has photographed and interviewed more than 35 local residents who are 100 years of age or older.
The museum describes Eli's life in the release:
This woman survived the Bolshevik revolution in her homeland of Russia, became a dentist in China, and has had a long and mostly happy life in America (she has lived in LA and Pasadena the entire time since emigrating here). I think the greatest sadness in her life has been the death of her two sons (one of whom was one of Pasadena's most prominent businessmen for many years), but she is remains a wonderfully cheerful and optimistic person.
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