guiseppewv
12-16-2005, 03:05 PM
COUDERSPORT, Pa. -- M. Gladys Swetland, believed to be the oldest resident of Pennsylvania, died Wednesday at Charles Cole Memorial Hospital. She was 113.
Miss Swetland was born in Mills, Potter County, on April 18, 1892, when Benjamin Harrison was president and Ellis Island began accepting immigrants, according to Caywood's Funeral Home in Elmira, N.Y., which is handling the funeral arrangements.
She started teaching at the Harrison Valley School in 1910. She saved money to attend Eastern Michigan Teachers College, where she earned a teaching degree, and later taught fifth and sixth grades in Detroit for 16 years.
Returning to Potter County to care for her mother, Miss Swetland taught third grade at the Harrison Valley School for 40 years. She retired at 70 but continued to substitute for almost 10 more years.
She never married but was engaged to a soldier who died in World War I.
She drove her automobile until well past her 100th birthday and lived in the Mills home where she was born until she was 110. During the last years of her life, she lived in the long-term care unit of Charles Cole Memorial Hospital in Coudersport.
It was there, on her 112th birthday, that she played piano for Gov. Ed Rendell.
She again played for relatives and other visitors, including state Sen. Joe Scarnati, R-Jefferson County, on her 113th birthday. Miss Swetland appeared on the "Today" show three days later.
In addition to the piano, she used to play the organ at Mills Union Church, where funeral services are slated to be held tomorrow.
http://www.postgazette.com/pg/05350/623689.stm
Wow. She had a full life. RIP.
I cannot imagine all of the change that she went through since she was born. So much happened in the 113 years she was alive.
Miss Swetland was born in Mills, Potter County, on April 18, 1892, when Benjamin Harrison was president and Ellis Island began accepting immigrants, according to Caywood's Funeral Home in Elmira, N.Y., which is handling the funeral arrangements.
She started teaching at the Harrison Valley School in 1910. She saved money to attend Eastern Michigan Teachers College, where she earned a teaching degree, and later taught fifth and sixth grades in Detroit for 16 years.
Returning to Potter County to care for her mother, Miss Swetland taught third grade at the Harrison Valley School for 40 years. She retired at 70 but continued to substitute for almost 10 more years.
She never married but was engaged to a soldier who died in World War I.
She drove her automobile until well past her 100th birthday and lived in the Mills home where she was born until she was 110. During the last years of her life, she lived in the long-term care unit of Charles Cole Memorial Hospital in Coudersport.
It was there, on her 112th birthday, that she played piano for Gov. Ed Rendell.
She again played for relatives and other visitors, including state Sen. Joe Scarnati, R-Jefferson County, on her 113th birthday. Miss Swetland appeared on the "Today" show three days later.
In addition to the piano, she used to play the organ at Mills Union Church, where funeral services are slated to be held tomorrow.
http://www.postgazette.com/pg/05350/623689.stm
Wow. She had a full life. RIP.
I cannot imagine all of the change that she went through since she was born. So much happened in the 113 years she was alive.