Ebba Coleman sat up straight in her wheelchair and didn’t hesitate to respond to the question of what keeps her so young at the age of 100.
“Doing things I like to do and doing things to help other people,” Coleman said in a somewhat loud and raspy voice.
More than a dozen family members celebrated Coleman’s birthday with her April 10 at her home at The Weatherly Inn at Lake Meridian on the East Hill in Kent.
Operators of the facility threw another birthday party April 14 for Coleman, who has lived for about four years in Kent. She received a proclamation letter from Kent Mayor Suzette Cooke that declared April 10 as Ebba Coleman Day.
Coleman also received a visit April 14 from Covington Mayor Margaret Harto, whose city sits just down Southeast 272nd Street from The Weatherly Inn.
“She was a lady before her time with her work as a legal secretary,” Harto told the residents who gathered for the celebration. “She also was a Sunday school teacher and did the finances for her church. She took care of the Lord’s money.”
Coleman grew up in Seattle and attended Mount Baker Park Presbyterian Church in Seattle for more than 50 years. She worked as legal secretary for a federal court judge and as an income tax preparer for the Port of Seattle.
In Coleman’s spare time, she enjoys needlepoint, knitting, reading and watching sports.
Coleman waved to the other residents of The Weatherly Inn as they sang happy birthday to her.
“You would never know she’s 100,” said Elizabeth Kopp, the facility’s activities director. “She’s still a little spitfire.”
Kristi Knox, general manager of The Weatherly Inn, said Coleman downplayed turning 100.
“She didn’t want another birthday,” Knox said.
But the party, the visit from the Harto and getting her photo taken for the newspaper seemed to make Coleman happy.
“Yes, I am,” Coleman said about whether she was having fun at her party.
Coleman joined a growing number of centenarians. The United States has the greatest number of centenarians in the world, estimated at 96,548 in 2008, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. That number is expected to jump to 601,000 in the U.S. by 2050.
Coleman is the second resident to turn 100 at The Weatherly Inn since it opened more than 10 years ago in Kent, Knox said. Another woman turned 100 a few years ago. She died at age 101.
A few of the significant events in 1910 when Coleman was born included President Taft starting the tradition of a President throwing out the ball on opening day of baseball season, the first state of Washington election in which women could vote and the issuing of the first US patent for inventing the traffic light system.
One hundred years later, Coleman earned her own significant event.
“We have lots of birthdays, but this is a very special birthday,” Knox said to The Weatherly Inn residents. “Ebba Coleman turned 100.”
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