THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, January 17, 1996 TAG: 9601160119
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 05 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY NANCY LEWIS, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Medium: 76 lines
It's true that one's eyesight and hearing begin to fail with age and the memory isn't as sharp as it once was, but none of these prevent Dorothy Falconer from enjoying life to its fullest at 101.
The lively centenarian has a hearty appetite and loves to play bingo, listen to music and watch television.
Until she was nearly 100, Falconer lived on her own with just a little help. Now a resident of Windermere At Virginia Beach, an intermediate care facility on Old Donation Parkway, she's still articulate and interested in everything going on around her.
She has a ready smile and frequently jokes with friends and acquaintances and is not above letting out an appropriately timed hearty laugh.
``I imagine that my hair looks nice,'' said Falconer on Friday, patting her neatly coiffed hairdo in place in preparation for her birthday lunch.
Her blue eyes sparkled, and she was dressed in her favorite red dress. A long string of pearls hung around her neck.
On hand to help her celebrate were her three daughters - Edna Tate, 76; Dolly McQuirt, 77; and Hope Minor, 73. Two other children, a son and a daughter, are deceased.
It's hard to add up the progeny, but Falconer came up with the precise count after some reckoning on her fingers: eight grandchildren, 10 great-grandchildren and two great-great grandchildren.
Although she lived through two world wars and the Great Depression, for Falconer, the memories that rush back are personal ones.
She well recalls the Jamestown Exposition of 1907. It was the exposition, held at the Norfolk Naval Base, that brought Falconer to Hampton Roads at the age of 12. Her mother, a widow, made the trip from Pennsylvania with her three teenage daughters and decided to stay.
Falconer has vivid memories of the long, snowy Pennsylvania winters of her childhood. She'd button up her leather knee boots (leggings) to trudge to and from school in Latrobe, Pa.
``There were no zippers in those days,'' she explained, leaning down to show how high the boots came up her leg and what a task it was to wedge each little button through a small buttonhole.
Falconer's father, a physician, died from pneumonia after taking a chill while treating victims of a gas explosion in a coal mine.
``He didn't wait for his horse and carriage and got drenched walking home through the snow,'' Falconer recalled.
When she married at the age of 22, Falconer rode in a horse and buggy, but remembers turning the crank to start up her first automobile, a Ford.
After more than half a century, some things are hard to remember. A husband's name, for example.
Try as she might, Falconer could not recall her late husband's name. ``It's been so long, I don't remember,'' she said with apologies.
Ashbel Pearce Falconer passed away in 1940, prompted daughter Tate.
Falconer attributes her longevity to her habit of drinking lots of milk and good, clean living habits. She has no bad habits - well, except maybe her weakness for desserts. She especially likes apple pie.
Besides raising her large family, Falconer worked in the food service industry. She remained active until recent years, said her daughters, traveling to such exotic places as Venezuela.
Falconer is the oldest living member of Norfolk's Royster Presbyterian Church and belongs to Eastern Star and the American Bell Association International. She also is a past member of the Daughters of the American Revolution.
How does it feel to turn 101?
``It creeps up on you, my dear. You think, `here comes another year,' but that's all right,'' said Falconer with a chuckle. ILLUSTRATION: Dorothy Falconer, 101, has three living children, eight
grandchildren, 10 great-grandchildren and two great-great
grandchildren.
KEYWORDS: PROFILE CENTENARIAN by CNB