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These days, active senior citizens abound. We think nothing of them flying airplanes, running marathons and living healthy, productive lives well into their 80s and beyond.  But in 1946, Stella Patterson did something remarkable even by today's standards and downright amazing for her time.  Stella was an author living in San Francisco, where she enjoyed concerts, lectures, parties — all the refinements of city life. One day she decided she would leave it all to spend a year in a cabin on her mining claim along the Klamath River in the Siskiyou Mountains of northern California. Stella Patterson was 80 years old.  Life alone in a remote cabin meant taking chances. There were terrible storms, rattlesnakes and an encounter with a mountain lion. But there were also wonderful experiences with the changing seasons, the garden flowers, good neighbors in the hills, and endearing characters — like Frenchie, a garlic-nibbling, book-reading fellow of questionable background, and Millicent, a little Karok Indian girl who loved to read Emily Post.  At the end of her year, on her 81st birthday, Stella concluded that she wanted to continue this good life close to the soil, and so she stayed on, eventually writing a book about her experiences titled "Dear Mad'm."  Source: "Dear Mad'm" by Stella Patterson. As It Was is a co-production of Jefferson Public Radio and the Southern Oregon Historical Society. As It Was stories are broadcast weekdays on Jefferson Public Radio and are available online at asitwas.org.