PORT ANGELES — “Oh, ain’t she sweet. We’ll see her walking down that street. Yes, I ask you very confidentially, ain’t she sweet?”
These days, Dorothy Waters walks with a walker — and not down too many streets. But ain’t she sweet?
Waters celebrated her 107th birthday Wednesday at Crestwood Health and Rehabilitation Center surrounded by about 50 residents, friends and her daughter-in-law.
The Old Time Fiddlers devoted the “fitting” ballad to Waters, playing to an audience of standing-room only.
She chalks her longevity up to “patience, for one,” Waters said. “Lots of beer,” her daughter-in-law, Barbara Huff, added.
Chocolate, champagne, vanilla ice cream and a love of people help, too.
For her 107th birthday, Waters received several bouquets, cards and, of course, chocolate cake.
Asked what she wants for the coming year, Waters turned to the more abstract: “happiness and adventure.”
Waters was born Oct. 25, 1910, to Robert and Mary Christensen in Junction City, Kan.
She introduces herself simply as “Dorothy from Kansas.”
She attended the University of Kansas, first pursuing bacteriology.
“Then I thought, ‘What in the heck do I want to do that for?’ ” she said. “I want a job with people.
“Oh, I just love people.”
So, she rerouted her career path and studied to become a social worker, a job she held for about 25 years, she said.
As an only child, she always craved the presence of brothers and sisters, Waters said. Joining the Alpha Xi Delta sorority at the University of Kansas gave her sisters for some time.
But it wasn’t until she became a social worker in Beloit that she gained brothers, too.
“They were probably better than family,” she said.
She married 32-year-old Gene Waters in 1935, and the couple resided in Kansas until 1970, when they moved to the bluffs of Port Angeles. They had one child, Gene Waters, Jr., who died in Arizona at age 50. Her husband died around the same time, Huff said.
Dancing till 106
Waters danced polkas every morning until she turned 106 years old, she said.
She drove until she hit 97 years old, only stopping because the Department of Licensing hesitated to renew her license for a few more years, Huff said.
Waters remained staunchly independent, living on her own up until about a year ago, Huff said.
If she couldn’t open a can, Waters wouldn’t ask for help, Huff said. No, she would spend hours on that can until she peeled the aluminum off herself.
And when she couldn’t fire up the lawnmower, Waters tried and tried until she did it herself and mowed the lawn without incident.
She often climbed a ladder to fetch apples from her tree, much to the chagrin of her neighbors, and continued to carry a gun into her 90s, once shooting a rabbit for supper off the side of the road.
A friend reminded her of the story.
“That doesn’t surprise me,” Waters said.
“I carried a gun until, boy, I thought I might be caught.”
Despite living alone after the death of her companion of 20 years, Tony Trzebiatowski, “she never felt sorry for herself,” Huff said.
Waters kept busy cleaning out closets, sewing aprons, quilting blankets, cooking chicken soup and baking apple fritters.
She moved into Crestwood Health and Rehabilitation Center about a year and six months ago, Huff said.
Now, Waters looks forward to the next year of happiness and adventure.
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Reporter Sarah Sharp can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56650, or at ssharp@peninsuladailynews.com.
