Centenarian reflects on her first century, offers advice
Friends and family recently gathered at Daylesford Crossing in Tredyffrin, Chester County, to celebrate the 100th birthday of the remarkable Leona Smith.
Surrounded by loved ones and admirers, Smith told family stories, shared personal memories and offered advice on how to live a fulfilling life.
What’s her secret for long-term satisfaction?
“Trying different things and taking advantage of new opportunities,” she said.
Throughout her life, Smith has tackled many new endeavors. Born in Northeast Philadelphia in 1924, she entered the working world at the Insurance Company of North America the Monday after she graduated from St. Hubert High School in 1942.
Her boss thought “the ladies in the office” needed a recreational opportunity, so he purchased a corporate membership at Eagle Lodge Country Club. She took golf lessons to make sure she could jump right in. She also joined the softball team.
“It was a very fun time in my life,” she said.
She and her girlfriends frequently took trips, often to Ocean City, N.J., and once as far as Chicago.
Her father was the chief of detectives of the Philadelphia Police Department and participated in capturing William “Willie” Sutton after he escaped Eastern State Penitentiary in 1945. Because her father worked so many long hours, nights and weekends, however, she hoped for a husband with a more regular, dependable schedule.
Frank Smith, a mechanical engineer, fit the bill.
In true Philadelphia “What parish are you from?” fashion, they both graduated from St. Bernard’s in 1938. When he returned from college, they reconnected at Mass when Frank noticed a familiar face across the church and married in 1950.
Eventually, she gave up golf and started a new adventure — motherhood. Despite no longer playing a game she loved, Smith said she was glad she did. She had six children: Frank, Michael (who passed away at age 5), twins Donna and Diane, John and Joe.
The twins were the biggest surprise in her life, according to Smith, who thought she was finished labor when the doctor exclaimed, “Here comes another!”
Smith kept learning new skills and has taken on interesting jobs
throughout her life, working on a congressman’s election campaign as the bookkeeper in 1980, and even learning how to work a switchboard at age 70 for a new job.
She was a regular computer user until four years ago when her personal computer broke down. “I outlived it!,” she said. Looking back, Smith still remembers many specific flashbulb moments from the historically significant times she lived through.
In her memoir — which she completed at age 90 — she wrote: “I remember exactly where I was when the war (World War II) ended. I was on a bus going to a dance at the Veterans Hospital in Coatesville, Pa., when we heard church bells everywhere tolling, signaling the end of the war.
“We were ecstatic! Even as the war was winding down, we would continue to go to Fort Dix for dances to greet the returning servicemen. But there was such a change in them. Even though we had won, they were very somber, I suppose, after all they had seen.”
At her birthday party, Smith fondly recalled spending a month in Germany and Paris with her husband to celebrate her 25th wedding anniver
sary and visiting her son Frank, who was stationed in Europe at the time.
Now living at Daylesford Crossing, Smith continues to learn new things and socialize, dining with at least two friends every night.
“She never misses a party,” said her family.
At the senior living community, Smith participates in bingo, exercise classes, evenings out to dinner and local events such as the Devon Horse Show.
Smith also enjoys two glasses of wine a day, but no more — offering the advice that moderation is the key to longevity.
“Don’t do anything to excess,” she said.
When asked about other secrets for a long life, she
suggested “proper, nutritious food…and stay out of the sun.”
Her family offered lessons that they’ve learned from her example: “perseverance,” “being adaptable,” “never giving up on anything” and “confronting challenges head-on.”
“I’ve tried to live by my favorite quote, which comes from Theodore Roosevelt. I ‘do the best I can, with what I have, where I am,’” Smith said.