108th birthday includes surprise, tears of joy at Laurels of Steubenville
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STEUBENVILLE -- The discovery of the North Pole, the first Lincoln penny being minted and the Wright Brothers selling their first plane to the U.S. Army were among the highlighted events of 1909.
It was also the year Elizabeth Lucas was born. And on Thursday, she celebrated her 108th birthday among family and friends at the Laurels, where she currently resides.
The afternoon began with staff taking the time to arrange flowers and set up a special cake among the various framed photos of her past. Her hair was done up nicely and a corsage had been pinned to her blouse.
As she was wheeled into the room decorated especially for her, Lucas was greeted by her son, Rob, his wife Darlene and Darlene's mother. But it was when staff members and other special guests entered the room that Lucas began to cry. She was overwhelmed.
"I never expected anything like this," she managed to say as she sobbed into her Kleenex. "Nobody has ever done anything like this for me before."
Rob is the only living child of Elizabeth. Her other two children, Dorothy and Walter, have died.
When asked what his mother means to him, he simply stated, "She's great." Then he stopped. His emotions got the better of him and he couldn't say any more without starting to cry. It was evident throughout the afternoon the exceptional love he has for his mother as he held her hand and kissed her cheek many times. He even painted her nails for the party when he visited her the day prior.
Lucas was born in Belle Vernon, Pa., on April 6, 1909, to Martin Antal and Agata Golema. Her father was a coal miner from Poland who lost his first wife while she was giving birth to their second child. It was then he sent for another wife in Poland and Elizabeth's mother arrived on Ellis Island to join her future husband in 1902.
Together, the couple had 10 children.
Elizabeth shared a bedroom with her 11 siblings in a two-bedroom home. She never had the opportunity to attend high school. She began cleaning houses in Shadyside when she was in the sixth grade so she could give the money she earned to her parents. The family couldn't afford to take trips together, but Elizabeth recalls happy memories of standing on her front porch with her brothers and sisters waving small American flags on the Fourth of July.
On Feb. 12, 1936, she married her husband, Walter. The couple resided in Belle Vernon where she worked as a stay-at-home mom. They were married for 60 years until his death in 1997.
Lucas first came to the Laurels about a month ago. She had previously been living in an assisted living facility in Avalon, which is where her daughter had lived. Recently, she fractured her ankle and needed skilled care. So her son moved her near him to the Laurels, where he visits her every day.
Rob noted she was a little leary at first of coming to the new facility but quickly warmed up and is constantly telling him how well they treat her and how she loves it there.
Elizabeth still likes to play cards and bingo, although she says she is not as good as she used to be at the games, adding she used to win at least once in a while in her younger days.
She was asked at her party how she felt to be turning 108 years old. Her answer: "I feel like crying."
"I don't believe it," Elizabeth said to those around her, adding in years past her birthday was never celebrated as it was on Thursday. "All of these people here ... it's just so nice. I always thought of me as a plain old person, but they like me, I see that," she said through her tears.