EDITOR'S LETTER

editor's LETTER Issue of the Century

One hundred pages wasn't enough. Another 100 would have helped, but even a thousand pages wouldn't have given us enough space to do a complete review of the state's first 100 years. There's too much history in Arizona, and even as this issue was leaving for the printer, we kept finding more.

"Hey Bobby, look at this gritty old photograph of the Fred Harvey Girls. I think it's from 1937. What do you think?"

"It's an interesting shot, Kelly, it really is, but we're out of space and we're out of time."

That was a familiar exchange in the days leading up to our deadline. Kelly, Kat, Keith ... everyone on the staff kept fighting for more, but despite our best efforts, we couldn't squeeze in another pixel or preposition. We did, however, find room for LaVona Evans.

LaVona's name isn't the most famous in this issue that distinction probably belongs to Sandra Day O'Connor or Hugh Downs but her story is perhaps the most intriguing. Like the state of Arizona, LaVona Evans was born February 14, 1912, and as Kathy Montgomery writes in Not Just Any Old Things, LaVona's seen it all: "She survived the TB epidemic of the early 1900s. As a young mother during the Depression, she worked for a fledgling dairy operation called Shamrock. In the 1970s, hippies lived on land she owned near Redington. She's seen the explosion in the state's population, and contributed to its growth more than a little."

Four years ago, her offspring totaled 137, but that's not the most impressive thing about LaVona Evans. Consider this: At the age of 100, she still lives alone, she recently renewed her driver's license, she cuts her own grass with an electric mower, she bakes a dozen loaves of bread every week and she prepares meals for people she refers to as "the elderly." The elderly. I love that.

LaVona is an inspiration, to be sure, and she's one of 100 things featured in Not Just Any Old Things, a story about Arizona landmarks that date back to Statehood Day and beyond. Along with LaVona, the list includes the Hayden Flour Mill in Tempe, the Prescott Public Library and El Tovar, the iconic lodge that also makes anappearance in our cover story. As the headline suggests, 100 Years in Pictures illustrates the Centennial with photographs. There are more than 100 in all, beginning with a great shot of Gila Academy's Class of 1912 and ending with a powerful image of last summer's dust storm. Although we include photos from every decade, the bulk of the portfolio is focused on the first 60 or 70 years of statehood. As you're flipping through, study the details in the photos. Check out the store signs along the streets of Tucson in 1940, the price of a hamburger at McDonald's in the early 1950s, and the parking lot at Sky Harbor in 1961. You'll want to study the state map of 1912, too. It's on the last page of this issue.

Even if old maps don't intrigue you, this one is worth a closer look. Among other things, note the absence of Lake Powell and La Paz County, and the existence of now-nonexistent national forests (Dixie, Crook, Tusayan and Zuni). Of course, to see anything, you'll probably need a magnifying glass although we turned the map sideways to make it bigger, the type is still pretty difficult to read.

The rest of the issue can be enjoyed without a special lens. And the stories you'll see include essays by Sandra Day O'Connor and Hugh Downs, a history piece by state historian Marshall Trimble, and a timeline that details some of the most interesting events of the last 100 years did you know that in 1912, the University of Arizona banned ragtime music? With more pages, the timeline could have gone even deeper, but like everything else in this issue, we ran out of space, we ran out of time and, despite our best efforts, we couldn't squeeze in another pixel or preposition.

ROBERT STIEVE, editor Follow me on Twitter: www.twitter.com/azhighways.

ARIZONA HIGHWAYS The most extraordinary museum you'll ever hear.

Enter MIM and discover an incomparable new experience that will delight your senses. With more than 15,000 instruments and cultural treasures in MIM's collection, you'll enjoy music from every country in the world using the latest audio and visual technology. See people playing their native instruments. Attend a live performance in the state-ofthe-art MIM Music Theater. Even make a little music of your own.

Ranked as one of five must-see Phoenix attractions by CNN.