The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Woman, 100, begins new century of life adventures
Despite a century of birthdays, Martha Pelton felt surprised by preparations and many guests at an open house in Amherst.
Pelton turns 100 years old on Feb. 22.
But on Feb. 19 large figures of cupcakes and ice cream cones adorned her lawn on Central Drive in Amherst.
“I looked out this morning and I saw the lawn,” Pelton said. “I thought, ‘Good golly, what happened?’ It was a surprise.”
In the Pelton clan, extended family members total 67, from the
youngest great great grandchildren to Pelton.
A granddaughter, Darla Baker, 57, drove eight hours from Illinois with her daughter, Angela Baker, 29, for the celebration.
Debbie Pelton, 62, is the youngest of Martha’s five girls. She lives with her mom; and many family members live in the Amherst area, Debbie said.
Martha and her husband Dewey grew up in Vermilion, Debbie said.
As a girl, Martha used to dive off of the Vermilion bridge and swim, Debbie said, adding she taught her brother how to swim when he was two-years-old and she was 10.
The adventures had only begun. Martha traveled to each of the 50 states, and to locations around the world, Debbie said.
“She was roller skating in her 60s,” said Donna Loop, of Oberlin, 73, one of the Pelton girls.
Their father owned Dewey Pelton Sanitation Service for years, Debbie said. Martha worked as the bookkeeper at home and raised the children, she said, but he died in 1980.
The Peltons raised their girls in Amherst, moved away for a time, then Martha and Debbie moved back to Amherst in 1982.
Tammy Koba is Martha Pelton’s granddaughter.
“She’s real good, walking still,” Koba said. “She’s starting to lose her sight. She knows everything and loves to talk about the olden days. We’re having cupcakes for her birthday. She likes cupcakes, and she does like her ice cream, too.”
Pelton’s activities were versatile, from downhill skiing in Austria to gardening, Koba said.
But through the later decades, activities changed.
“I can’t go skiing. I can’t do anything else,” Pelton said. “But other than that I’ve been around the world. I even rode in a big balloon over the Serengeti.
“My mother lived to 98, my father to 92,” Pelton said. “Just live one day at a time, and if the Good Lord wants me, okay. I can eat anything I want, but I don’t like meat. Give me vegetables.”
For the celebration, Pelton was delighted with the many visitors, and the 50 birthday cards created for her by local school children.
Her life has been full of many adventures, she said.
“But I never got to jump in a parachute,” Pelton said.