Adrian Manor resident celebrates century birthday

By SHARON KIESEL

Family and friends gathered at the Adrian Manor, Wednesday, August 31, to celebrate a loved one’s special birthday. Manor resident Faye Dillon reached a big milestone in her life as she turned one hundred years old.

When Faye was born to Ida Becker and Ezadore Bertoldie in Marshfield, Missouri, the 20th century was just eleven years old. That year, 1911 was when Marie Curie won the Nobel Peace Prize for Chemistry. A popular song of the day was Irving Berlin’s Alexander’s Ragtime Band.

Faye, one of seven children (the oldest of whom recently passed away at age 102), grew up on a farm. She did attend the one room school for a time, then went on to a multi-room school where she completed the tenth grade. She worked in a tomato canning factory for awhile then later, she worked cleaning the Commerce Bank building in Kansas City, Missouri. She retired from there at age 70.

She married Ira Dillon about 1928. The couple had six children, Donnie, Bobby, Billy, Rex, Mary and Evelyn. There are now thirteen grandchildren and bunches of greats and great-greats. For a number of years, Faye lived in a one room log cabin. It was there she and Ira’s first two children were born.

In all, during Faye’s century of living, there have been eighteen U.S. Presidents. There have been many changes in her lifetime, so many she couldn’t decide on what has impressed her the most.

As an adult, when Faye was not working, she enjoyed reading books and magazines. Today her failing eyesight prevents reading things for herself. She is a member of the Eastside Assembly of God Church in Kansas City, Missouri.

She said she owed her longevity to one thing, one person only. It was simply, her Christian life and her faith in God.