The Story Never Ends: Doris Irwin turns 101 years young on Saturday
If you ask Doris Irwin, who will turn 101 years young on Saturday, "what's the secret to living a long life," she'll tell you she has no idea how she lived this long.
But, what she will tell you is that the secret to a good life is cherishing family and friends, enjoying every day and making sure "not to collapse and not resurface" through hard times. And, Doris has seen her fair share of hard times. Both of her children are deceased and all of her siblings and cousins are gone but she is still thankful for every day and for her grandson, Tony Sznoluch, and his wife, Paula, and their children, Selena, 14, and Kyle, 22. She lives with them in Brunswick, Maryland, and while her mind is still sharp as a tack and she gets around well and uses a walker sometimes, they help her with everyday living.
"I never dreamed I would live this long," she says. "The whole world has changed right before my very eyes. People use their phones as computers nowadays and so much has changed in how we communicate with one another."
While the former Doris Uetz was born Feb. 12, 1921, in Philadelphia, she lived in Meyersdale with her husband, Jim Irwin, from 1983 up until the past five years when she began living with her grandson Tony and his family. In his youth, Tony stayed with his grandparents at their house along High Street in Meyersdale in the 1980s and attended Meyersdale Area High School. He has many good memories of his time spent in Somerset County.
"My great Uncle Bill Irwin was a card and would tell me jokes all the time," says Tony. "It was a good time back then being with my grandparents in Meyersdale. When we were recently clearing out the house, I found a box of military photos of my grandfather Jim and that was a real treasure."
Doris met her husband Jim while he was serving in the U.S. Army at Aberdeen, Maryland. Her brother Charles, who was also in the Army, brought him for a visit to their home while the two were on leave. Jim called Doris twice and while she refused him the first time, the second time she agreed to go out on a date.
They were married in 1943 and mostly lived in Olney, Maryland, a neighborhood of North Philly. Doris worked at a savings and loan company and Jim worked at a company that made railroad cars. In fact, they rode to Florida for their honeymoon on the Silver Meteor, a fairly-new diesel-powered Amtrak train at the time that was famous for traveling from New York City to Miami, Florida. Jim worked for the company that made that train.
They had two children: Jimmy Jr., who died at 14 years old in 1959; and Diane James (who had married Larry James of Meyersdale, now also deceased) of Newport News, Virginia, who died in 2010 at 59 years old. Diane had two sons, Tony (who has already been mentioned) and Jim Sznoluch, who lives in Chesapeake, Va., and has three children.
Doris had lived alone along High Street in Meyersdale since her husband Jim died in 1994 at the age of 76 years old. Jim was one of five siblings, who included Bill, Ken, Jack, and Thelma Bittner, now all gone as well.
While living to be 101 years old is a great achievement, Doris has seen many friends and family pass on and was sad that her last living cousin, who was in her wedding in 1943 and was 16 years old at the time, just died recently. Doris was an only daughter and had four brothers (Charles, John, Bob and George) who also have all passed on.
And, her granddaughter-in-law Paula tells the story that six years ago when she turned 95, she ended up going to the hospital afterwards and was told by doctors that she didn't have long to live. Soon after that her grandson Tony told her she was coming to his house to live. That was six years ago and she is still going strong and getting ready for her 101st birthday party on Saturday.
"Don't ask me how I did it," she laughs. "I wonder if the good Lord has more work for me to do. You never know."
Happy 101st Doris!
This article originally appeared on The Daily American: Sandra Lepley column about Doris Irwin turning 101 on Saturday
