A friendly wager earns a hefty payday when Richland woman hits 100. They’re paying it forward

This was a bet Nancy Petersen was glad to lose.

Her mother had made it to 100 years old, and even though that meant it was time to pay up on a bet she had made five years earlier, Petersen wouldn’t have had it any other way.

The bet started at her mom’s 95th birthday party, when Petersen was talking with her longtime friend Rosemary Swenson.

“I bet Georgie lives to be 100 years old,” Swenson said at the time.

But Petersen felt differently. Her mother, Richland resident Georgianna LaRiviere, lived a hard life. She had taken care of seven children while her husband was in the Army, sometimes having to work multiple jobs.

But Swenson was convinced that her friend’s high-spirited mom, whom they call Georgie, would become a centenarian.

Not thinking much of it, they decided to put $1,000 on the line.

That was five years ago.

Time to pay the bet

LaRiviere is still alive and well, and celebrated her 100th birthday in April.

The two women didn’t forget about the bet. They met up two weeks ago so Petersen could hand over the $1,000 to Swenson.

“My mother is worth it,” she said.

But to Petersen’s surprise, Swenson refused the cash.

“She was one step ahead of me,” Petersen said. “She offered something unexpected.”

Swenson instead asked for the money to go to the Jesuit missions in Asia. The $1,000, she insisted, would go ten times further in another country.

Petersen said LaRiviere was delighted to hear the money would go to the mission.

Georgianna is now challenging all 32 of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren to do the same and make a donation to Jesuit Missions at https://tinyurl.com/yxqvlmab.