Betty Rose Marks Her 100th Birthday With Husband, Also 100, By Her Side
BY NANCY GAGNET — MIRROR REPORTER
For Betty Rose, the extraordinary thing about turning 100 years old is reaching that milestone three months after her spouse of 78 years reached the mark.
Betty, a resident of the Elizabeth Scott Community, celebrated her 100th birthday on April 8. Her husband Al celebrated his 100th birthday there on January 1.
On the afternoon of her birthday, the two sat side by side at the Springfield Township facility where they reside to celebrate with friends and family.
“Thank you to everybody here – this is so nice,” said Betty, who dressed in a pink sweater and wore a special corsage for the occasion.
When asked how it feels to turn 100 years old, she shrugged.
“It’s not much different than it was yesterday,” she said.
Betty enjoys reading historical novels and doing needlepoint kits. Many of her projects hang on the walls of the room she shares with her husband.
Formerly of Oregon, they moved to Elizabeth Scott in 2007.
Al worked for the Oregon city water department and was active in the volunteer fire department, where he also taught first aid.
Betty, a homemaker, loved canning, especially the fruit that grew on her property.
“I canned peaches, pears, cherries, and I made a lot of applesauce,” she said.
She also enjoyed baking, but said with five children, the desserts never lasted too long.
“I’d bake a pie or a cake and as soon as I turned my back to do dishes, it would be gone,” she said.
She also baked special sugar cookies from a recipe that had been passed down through the generations, which many family members continue to bake each Christmas.
After Al retired, the two enjoyed traveling throughout the country in their motor home. They also enjoyed spending their summers in Indiana and Florida. Rose loved to crochet and knit and make pine needle baskets, and Al created one-of-a kind wood projects.
Betty was also chosen the “My Fair Lady” queen at the Lucas County Fair in 2008.
Their son John Rose and his wife Verna of Waterville attended Betty’s birthday party at Elizabeth Scott.
“Dad was provider and mom was mother and household manager,” John said. “Both had great love and respect for each other. They were married during the Depression and never had much money, but we kids never thought we were poor.”
John attributes their longevity to good fortune and good clean living.
“I guess it’s part luck, part good genes and lack of excesses. Both of them always kept busy,” he said.
Al is a colon and liver cancer survivor and he has pacemaker, John said.
A celebration in honor of Betty’s birthday also took place on April 10 in John and Verna’s home.
Their other children include Roger, who lives with his wife Shelia in St. Louis; Sharon Kourous of Monroe, Mich.; David, who lives with his wife Cindy in Findlay; and Marty, who lives with his wife Kathy in Cincinnati. They also have 12 grandchildren, 23 great-grandchildren, and 10 great-great-grandchildren.
On June 7, 2009, Betty and Al celebrated their 78th wedding anniversary – an accomplishment Betty attributes to the ability to take in stride all that life hands you.
“You take the hard years and you have a lot of fun with the good ones,” she said.
According to Matt Bucher, Elizabeth Scott Community director of marketing, online searches found only one other married couple in the United States in which both spouses are 100 years old.
“It’s pretty amazing,” Bucher said. “We’ve had 100-year-old residents before, but we’ve never had a married couple living in our facility who were both 100.