VAN HORNESVILLE – The year was 1902. One of the first skyscrapers
was built in New York City. A Brooklyn toy store sold the first teddy
bear. The first system for indoor air conditioning was designed. A
record number of immigrants arrived, mostly from Italy, Austro-Hungary
and Russia. And Mildred Fahey, a lifelong resident of Van Hornesville,
was born.
Fahey, who lives on Pumpkin Hook Road, will celebrate her 103rd
birthday Sunday. She has never drank or smoked, to which she credits
her good health.
Fahey had a big party for her 100th birthday at the American Legion
in Richfield Springs, but doesn’t want a party this year. “I don’t
enjoy them anymore,” she said. “I have trouble hearing and seeing
everyone.”
Depending on who you talk to, either hearing, eyesight or memory is
the first thing to go with age. While Fahey is hard of hearing and has
degenerative vision, her daughter, Jean Huckabone, said her mind is
still strong as ever.
“She’s sharp as a tack,” Huckabone said. “Her grandchildren in
school always call her with history questions, and the whole family
comes to her with things they don’t know.”
Huckabone also said Fahey never needs a shopping list. “If we go
shopping and we have to get four things, I have to write them down,”
Huckabone said. “She (Fahey) always remembers them and says, ‘what do
you need a list for?’”
Fahey grew up on a farm in Van Hornesville, in simpler times, before
television, computers and cell phones. “Things sure were a lot
different back then,” she said. “I don’t know if they’re better or
worse. What do you think?”
Fahey said there were a lot more smaller farms back then, and
families would go from one farm to another, helping each other. When
those families were done for the day, often they would end up at
Fahey’s house, where she cooked for all of them.
Fahey also used to cook for her whole family at Christmas, preparing
a meal for 25-30 people. “She’s very much a family-oriented person,”
Huckabone said. “She raised us kids and then raised her grandkids too.
Then when they grew up, she started with the next generation.”
Fahey has five children, 14 grandchildren, 25 great grandchildren
and three great-great grandchildren. She was married for 44 years
before her husband, Francis, died in 1973.
She is a 1919 graduate of Springfield Center High School and went on
to attend Oneonta Normal College. Fahey went on to become a teacher and
taught in a one-room schoolhouse in Van Hornesville, a school in Warren
and the old Chyle School between Van Hornesville and Richfield Springs.
Nowadays, Fahey goes out to dinner with her family, goes for rides
with her grandchildren, and walks up and down her sidewalk everyday.
Fahey used to enjoy reading, sewing, shopping and watching
television. Her favorite show was “Days of our Lives,” which she
watched everyday. “If we went any place, we always had to be back to
watch that,” Huckabone said.
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