At age 100, West Chester woman enjoys life to the fullest
WEST CHESTER >> With a wry smile and a twinkle in her eye, Doris Henneberry Rickards said at her 100th birthday celebration that she was born before women were allowed to vote.
“I was born before I could vote,” she quipped.
Passed by Congress June 4, 1919, and ratified on August 18, 1920, the 19th Amendment granted women the right to vote.
Rickards is a resident of the Hickman, lived in Lawrence Park, Broomall, for more than 60 years and cut the cake at her birthday celebration. About 50 well-wishers sang a rousing rendition of “Happy Birthday” for the borough’s newest centenarian who was born on Jan. 15, 1920.
Rickards enjoys sewing, knitting and crochet, is a lifelong Democrat who attended the 1948 Democratic Convention, and is a dog lover.
She raised four children, six grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. She is the oldest of two girls, was born in Philadelphia, where she graduated from Olney High School in 1937 and married Benjamin T. Rickards on Sept. 2, 1944.
She was asked how she managed to live into her second century.
“God had a lot to do with that,” she said. “Everybody asks me that question and I don’t have any answer.”
She did smoke and drink but gave up smoking.
“I smoked and drank … I wouldn’t be honest if I didn’t say that,” she said.
Mayor Dianne Herrin presented the new centenarian with a Citation of Celebration.
“You wouldn’t know Doris just turned 100 upon meeting her. She is very present and engaging,” Herrin said. “She has stories to tell and laughs to share.
“We all wish her a very happy birthday!”
Daughter Delores Higgins said she enjoys talking to her mother because of “all the things she can tell you about what she’s seen and experienced.”
Rickards worked in Wanamaker’s Crystal Tea Room during World War II. She also worked at Barrett’s Division of Allied Chemical as a file clerk in the research department.
She was involved with topsecret information concerning the Manhattan Project and didn’t know, as an employee,