When Jane Olson entered the world on Jan. 31, 1919, her birthplace was a cabin in the woods of Hamlin Township.
Olson, who turned 100 on Thursday, celebrated her century milestone at Bradford Ecumenical Home, where she has resided since 2013.
She also had lived at the Chapel Ridge assisted living facility, located on the same campus, from 2009 to 2013.
Olson said her late parents were Roy and Verna Ripple, who also had five other children, Frank and Harold and Audrey, Pearl and Ruth, all of whom are deceased.
Olson said she attended the Bradford School District and rode a bus to the Derrick City School, as well as the junior and senior high schools in Bradford.
During her childhood years, she enjoyed walking in the hills near her family’s home and finding wild vegetation for her mother to cook.
“I got a lot of exercise, whatever was out there, like leeks, we picked for our mother to cook,” Olson recalled.
After graduating from high school, she attended a cosmetology school near Titusville, and was a beautician for most of her adult life, working primarily in the Bradford area. She also enjoyed knitting in her younger years and made warm clothes such as sweaters for her children to wear.
She and her late husband, James Olson, whom she was married to from 1942 to 1997, had two sons and a couple of grandchildren. Her surviving son, Phil, resides in Mission Viejo, Calif.
When asked what she attributes her longevity to, Olson said it is her faith.
“I think the church helped quite a lot — I know it did,” Olson said. ”I’ve been around quite a while and I have a lot to be thankful for.”
Barb Messer, social worker at the Ecumenical Home, said Olson is witty and well-liked at the facility.
“We enjoy her company and all of her jokes,” Messer remarked.
Olson displayed some of her wit when she was recently asked what she thought of becoming 100.
Shrugging her shoulders while smiling she replied, “I don’t know, but I can tell you is there isn’t a thing I can do about it,”
Cards and letters can be mailed to Olson at the Bradford Ecumenical Home, 100 St. Francis Drive, Bradford, PA 16701.
