Published: September 12, 2008 10:36 pm      

NIAGARA COUNTY: Centenarians to have a birthday party

Helen Whitwell said she was a charter member when the current Dale Association building opened, and on Wednesday, she’ll return with six others for a birthday party.

The party is for Whitwell, Barbara Arnold, Ada Baes, Dorothy Blacklock, Leda Brown and Loraine Clark, all of whom are 100 years old and over. Gladys Woodbury of the Tuscarora Nation is only 99 but is invited to attend, said Glenda Reardon, a dietitian with the Niagara County Office for the Aging. The office is hosting the party Wednesday at the Dale senior center, and Reardon said the honorees are looking forward to it.

“It’s very interesting. Their families say they’re amazing people,” Reardon said. “They’re able to get around and are extremely with it.”

Brown is the senior member of the group at 104 years old, while Baes will be 102 in November. Arnold is 101 years old, and Whitwell, Clark and Blacklock are all an even 100.

The celebration will include a proclamation from the Niagara County Legislature, lunch, ice cream and cake, a chance to speak for the honorees and of course, people singing “Happy Birthday.” Some of the honorees will be picked up by limousine, and some are bringing a few relatives. For Clark, 14 family members will be present.

Similar celebrations will be held at the John Duke Senior Center in Niagara Falls and the North Tonawanda Senior Citizens Center on Wednesday. Reardon said there are 26 all together in the county who have passed the century mark, but five are unable to attend. They will receive citations from the county, she said. The party is a part of the county’s bicentennial celebration.

Pictures of each of the honorees will go into a scrapbook, which will be published for them as “A Century of Memories.”

Memories of the opening of the Dale building will surely come to mind for Whitwell. She recalled some of the activities she took part in at the Dale Association, which at the time was the Lockport Senior Citizens Club. Those events included annual bazaars, where Whitwell was chairperson of the food booth, and card parties, which she also chaired. Whitwell and her family helped out in constructing the building.

“My husband, Al, built the snack bar using wood from a barn that had been torn down,” Whitwell said. “We had lots and lots of good times in that place over the years.”

Contact reporter Joe Olenick at 439-9222, ext. 6241.