Centenarians with Club 100 take tour of Obama Presidential Center ahead of June opening

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Some local women who have witnessed history in person the last 100 years witnessed another piece of history on Wednesday.

Centenarians were among the first the see inside the Obama Presidential Center.

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Preview tours of the Obama Presidential Center continued Wednesday. A special tour was arranged from some woman who lived through not only the history of the Obama presidency, but so much more.

Last month, Mary Lee Stiger turned 105.

"You see, I remember the depression," Stiger said. "I was in the depression."

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She is part of Club 100, people over one hundred years old. On Wednesday, she was riding in style to visit the Obama Presidential Center in Jackson Park.

Stiger and two other Club 100 members were brought to the center in limousines.

Alicia Heslup Evans and Ruth Person, both 100 years old, and Stiger got a personal welcome from the center's incoming Executive Vice President John Roberson.

"It's is an honor and a pleasure to be able to welcome you," Roberson said. "This is not just a museum this is a place of celebration because we realize this place only exists because of the work that you all did we stand on your shoulders."

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"The things that they have seen to this point and gone through for their families for the world this is a brief victory that they are experiencing and they will be able to share through their family lineage," Club 100 organizer Helen Riley said.

"I know I've seen a whole lot that other people haven't seen, and they will never see it, but I'm hoping things get better than they are now. I'm not pleased with how things are moving," Stiger said. "I want to see where everybody loves each other and everybody respects each other... I'm hoping they change and let me see it at least."

The ladies spent more than two hours in the museum, and ABC7 was told there were lots of emotions recalling memories and gratitude for being able to witness this moment in history in person.