Local woman celebrates 100th birthday

Lavalette Boles is oldest living member of Wayne Presbyterian Church

RADNOR » Imagine this: when Lavalette Boles was born on Feb. 6, 1918, World War I was still raging, a pandemic influenza (Spanish flu) took millions of lives worldwide, people were replacing their horses with Model Ts and Radnor residents rode the Philadelphia & Western Railway trolley into the city. Homes had ice boxes, not refrigerators, and radios were uncommon until the 1920s. Televisions, computers and interstate highways were yet to come. Boles’ life has encompassed the Great Depression, World War II, the Cold War and Americans landing on the moon.

Now Boles, a Wayne resident for most of her life, has celebrated her 100th birthday. About 25 members of her family and friends marked her birthWayne day with a party at her home. The family also held a larger gathering for Boles last June at the Wayne Presbyterian Church where 78 people helped her celebrate. Boles is the oldest parishioner of that church, said her great-niece Rebecca Blythe Stein, of East Coventry Township.

Boles, one of eight children born to Olivia Bedinger Boles and Charles Stowe Boles, has spent most of her life in North Wayne. Although the family moved to Wayne in 1920, they left for Texas during the Great Depression where her father, Charles Boles, had secured a job. The family later returned to Wayne as the Depression waned and moved back into their house, which they had rented while they were away. Charles Boles planted a large pine tree at the corner of Walnut and North Wayne avenues that residents still string with lights for the holidays each year, said Stein.

“The family has been here a long time,” Stein said.

Boles attended public schools in Radnor, receiving a high school equivalency. Because of the Depression, she knew she

Lavalette Boles, center, with Wowa, friends from the neighborhood. (From left) Amy Rubinoff, Candyce Wilson, Christina Riechert, Renee Melvin and Kristen Kearns.

SUBMITTED PHOTO Lavalette Boles, right, is pictured with her mother, Olivia Boles, and her sister, Lila.