Centenarian details life through two pandemics

MIDDLETOWN » Living through a pandemic is nothing new to 100-year-old Helen Edwards McHenry. The longtime Springfield resident, who now makes her home at Lima Estates, spent a lifetime never knowing her father after he passed away from complications developed from the Spanish Flu in 1921. McHenry was just 16 months old.

“Through the years, I got to know about my father and about the Spanish Flu from stories told to me by my mother and other relatives,” McHenry explained.

The Spanish Flu, which first surfaced in 1918, was an unusually deadly influenza pandemic caused by the H1N1 influenza A virus, infecting 500 million people – about a third of the world’s population at the time.

The next worldwide pandemic of coronavirus this year, infecting more that 7 million around the globe, has also impacted the Delaware County woman’s life - but in a different way. She has been sequestered in Lima Estates since midMarch, unable to see her family or the outside world. She doesn’t mind, she says, because she heard about the effects of the Spanish Flu epidemic while growing up, and watched recent news reports so she knew the importance of sheltering-in-place.

“It made me feel safe that visitors could not come and go during this crucial time,” she said. “I never thought I’d live this long and I certainly never thought I would see another epidemic like this in my lifetime! However, I am totally confident that they’ll get a vaccination or at least a medication to help fight it.”

When asked if she was ever frightened by pandemic news she heard, she answered with the wisdom that comes through living a life full of ups and downs.

“Not really,” she quickly responded. “What will be, will be.”

With Pennsylvania now in the Yellow Phase, the centenarian was finally able to venture out this past Tuesday, for the first time in almost three months.

“My son came and got me and we went for a ride and tour of the area,” McHenry said. “It felt really nice to get out!”

McHenry’s son David took his mother to Springfield, where she resided for well over half of a century. He drove by to show her the new Springfield High School and the damages around town from a recent wind storm. As the grandmother of five and the great-grandmother of ten, McHenry was also pleased, she said, to be able to get a quick glance and give a drive-by wave to her granddaughter who lives in Wallingford and her grandson, who resides in Springfield.

McHenry, who was born Sept. 15, 1919, in WilkesBarre, Pa., was raised with her late sister Jean by her single mother after losing her dad at the young age. The family moved to the Philadelphia area during World War II, where Helen got a job as a secretary for Stetson Hats, Philadelphia Division. She met her husband Robert “Bob” McHenry after he came home from serving in the war.

After marrying in 1946, the couple created a home in Springfield, nearby where Robert’s father, F. L. McHenry owned the Mac and Sam car dealership on Springfield Road in Clifton Heights. They raised two children, David of Springfield and Shirley McHenry Guy of Sun City, S.C., in their house on Haines Lane in Springfield.

Although McHenry says she was a “happy homemaker,” she says she went to work at Mac and Sam’s office after her children were grown. She also has fond memories of her involvement in St. Matthew Lutheran Church, the Springfield Athletic League, playing bridge locally, and socializing at the Rolling Green Country Club where her husband regularly played golf. Her husband died in 1996.

“We lived through so many wonderful things and a few that were not-so-wonderful,” McHenry said reflectively. “I had a busy life. I had a good life.”

McHenry said she was a little disappointed that the annual Delaware County Centenarian Luncheon at Drexelbrook was cancelled this past May due to the pandemic, but she was fortunate to get to one in May 2019, only a few months before her 100th birthday. She called it a “lovely event.” Also, she is thankful that she saw all of her extended family at her 100th birthday celebration last September because she is not sure with the pandemic, if they will all be able to make it to her 101st, coming up in just a few months.

“Now that we are in the next phase of this pandemic, I feel safe to a degree,” McHenry stated. “I’m not ready to go shopping yet or go to a big family party, but I feel safe going to the doctor. We all have to work back into our old lives gradually.”

McHenry said that although she lived a very quiet life, she was always very active and that could be why she has kept healthy enough to make it beyond the 100 mark.

“I have no secret that I can share as to why I am living this long,” McHenry laughs. “No one else in my family lived past 100, so I have no clue. I just get up every day, climb out of bed, and thank the good Lord to be here.”

SUBMITTED PHOTO Helen McHenry, who turned 100years old in September, at her century celebration birthday party. The Delaware County centenarian, who lived through two worldwide pandemics, said she missed being able to see her family during the past few months, as well as socializing with the other residents of Lima Estates.