WAYNESBORO, Pa. — “Happy birthday to our lovely resident Frances Betts. She is 101 years young.”
The announcement was posted on the Facebook page for Hearthstone Retirement Home, where Betts has lived since April.
Betts was feted at a lunch at Hearthstone featuring a menu that she chose. She also received flowers, a “101” pin and banner, card signed by the staff, residents and visitors, and a plaque that listed statistics from the year 1925. Photos of the retired teacher on the Hearthstone Facebook page received numerous comments from members of the community and former students.
Betts also was honored by her family with a luncheon at the Parlor House.
Born Sept. 20, 1925, in Waynesboro, she was one of nine children of the late Ervin E. and Mary E. (Welty) Newcomer – Betts had seven older siblings and one younger brother. She graduated from Quincy High School in 1943 and Juniata College in 1947. She and her husband, Ferdinand, were married more than 68 years before he died in 2016.
They had four children, Dan Betts, Ann Dickey, Nancy Mace and Mary Betts, eight grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren. A member of Evangelical Lutheran Church, Waynesboro, and its Augsburg Sunday School class, Betts attends church every Sunday. Attributing her longevity to “always taking care of myself,” Betts participates in numerous activities at Hearthstone and enjoys daily walks around the garden area. She also looks forward to her weekly hair appointments at a local salon.
About Hearthstone
Hearthstone, founded in 1960, is a private, not-for-profit independent retirement home for men and women — a Licensed Personal Care Home with the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services and a Licensed In-Home Care Service with the Department of Health.
Hearthstone began as the vision of Waynesboro philanthropist John Neal Jr., who left funds and instructions to establish a memorial home for his son George, who died unexpectedly at age 17. The home is officially the George H. Neal Memorial Home for the Aged.
Anna Landis Sollenberger donated her home at 102 S. Potomac St. for Hearthstone in 1961. A 22-room wing was added, and Hearthstone welcomed its first guests in July of that year. Anna’s daughter — Anna Hershey Sollenberger, a Waynesboro Hospital lab technician and longtime Red Cross volunteer — lived at Hearthstone from April 1982 until her death in January 1984.
