Woman gets 90th birthday drive-by

Lorrane Berns doesn’t like to be the object of attention, but she was center stage Tuesday morning when a column of first responders paraded past her Shillington home.

With sirens blaring, neighbors lined the South Miller Street and burst out in a hearty rendition of “Happy Birthday.”

Lorrane turned 90 on Tuesday, and her children arranged a drive-by with Shillington’s Keystone Fire Co. No. 1 as a surprise birthday present.

“I never expected anything like this,” said Lorrane, who was surrounded by her daughters and grandchildren. “I’ll remember this for a long time.”

Michele Caba of Phoenixville

said the event brought out her mother’s emotional side.

“My mom was so surprised she had tears in her eyes,” said Caba. “It was the best surprise ever.”

Caba and her sister, Pam Gaspari of Shillington, were with their mother when three firefighting apparatus came blaring down the street.

Given the uncertainty of the COVID-19 crisis, Caba said, it was touching to see neighbors turn out and show the love they have for her mother.

Gaspari also felt the love in the air.

“My mother is a kind, loving and giving person who’s always been there for everybody,” said Gaspairi, a retired Berks County employee. “She’s just a sweet lady, and she deserved to be honored on her birthday.”

Brian Berns, who lives in Delaware, was unable to attend the celebration.

“She is the anchor of our family,” said Berns, 61, a physical education teacher and football coach in Camden, Delaware. “She’s the glue that holds us together.”

George Berns, Lorrane’s husband, was a Marine Corps veteran who received a Purple Heart in World War II. A longtime worker at Carpenter Steel, he died in 2014.

Lorrane, who once worked at Berkshire Knitting Mills, continues to live independently in the home she and her late husband built in 1963.

“My mother is a strong Pennsylvania Dutch woman who still mows her grass every Saturday,” Brian Berns said. “She still operates her snow blower.”