By RODNEY D. BOAM
Citizen editor
Centenarian Doloras White, celebrated her 105th birthday at Franklin County Transitional Care surrounded by family and friends on Oct. 16. On Monday, Oct. 29, she passed away.
Carolyn Olsen, who oversees the activities at the facility, said she had an 85 year-old daughter and a granddaughter, 60 years-old, attend her party.
Family members who attended the party requested a recording by Frank Sinatra, “Young at Heart,” be played in her honor. “The part of the song that said, ‘And if you should survive to 105,’ took on a special meaning,” said Olsen.
The oldest daughter of Bessie and Burton Martin was born, raised and lived most of her life in Preston.
Doloras has four sisters and two brothers, all of which she has outlived.
She met her first husband Howard Johnson at church. They were married in 1925. He was three years older than her.
Doloras White at her 105th birthday on Oct. 16, 2012.
The couple moved to California for a few years, then returned to Preston in the ‘30s when their first daughter, Venis, was five years old.
They bought the Johnson Hotel and ran it for several years. Then they built the Plaza Motel.
During an interview by Citizen staff writer Necia Seamons at her 100th birthday she said she remembered sitting on the roof of the Plaza Motel and handing shingles to her husband when they were building it.
Building and fixing things seemed to be a way of life for the Johnsons. Today it’s called flipping houses.
“We liked to buy old houses, fix them up and sell them,” she told The Citizen.
This story is sponsored by Elect Tom Loertscher.
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