Dorothy Smith (sixth from left), a longtime resident of Allen Park, celebrates her 100th birthday Aug. 26 at Beaumont Commons-Dearborn with her daughter Elizabeth Smith (left), friend Susan Ritchey, daughter Marilyn Simmons, son-in-law Gale Simmons, son Tom Smith and daughter-in-law Betty Smith.
By SUE SUCHYTA
Sunday Times Newspapers
DEARBORN – Longtime Allen Parker Dorothy Smith, a World War II Army nurse, mother to three, grandmother to four, and a great-grandmother to 10, celebrated her 100th birthday Aug. 26 at Beaumont Commons-Dearborn.
When thunderstorms threatened their small, outdoor gazebo gathering, she and six family members masked up and moved the centennial celebration to an indoor meeting space, where they enjoyed birthday cake and treats, while Smith enjoyed opening birthday cards and receiving congratulatory phone calls.
Smith, who grew up in Albion, trained to become a nurse in Battle Creek, graduating in 1942.
Then, in 1943, she became an Army Air Force nurse, and was assigned to a base in Sioux Falls, S.D., where she met her husband, Floyd Smith, three weeks after she arrived. They were married March 29, 1944, and were together for 70 years until his death in 2014.
The couple had three children, Elizabeth, Tom and Marilyn, and Floyd Smith worked as an economist for the Ford Motor Co. for 35 years, while Dorothy resumed nursing at the Allen Park Convalescent Home, where she worked for 15 years after her children went off to college.
Smith said she and her husband both enjoyed bird-watching, and belonged to the American Birding Association. Their travels took them to all 50 states.
“We saw birds in every state of the United States,” she said. “We went to Alaska, where you see all the rare birds.”
Smith said she pursued many of her own hobbies as well, including knitting, sewing, painting china and playing bridge.
“I have had a very nice life,” she said.
Smith light-heartedly attributes her long life to “good living,” and said her mother was almost 99 years old when she died.
She said she was reluctant to move from an independent living unit to an assisted living unit, but concedes that it was necessary because she is on oxygen now.
She said they were originally going to have a milestone celebration of her 100th, her daughter’s 75th and her granddaughter’s 50th birthdays this year — the younger two have birthdays in September — but the pandemic prevented its planning.
“I don’t think I tried to be 100 – it just happens to be my birthday,” she said with a laugh.