Donna Newcomer Shaffer Day observed her 100th birthday on January 7, 2017. She was born near Cardington and graduated from Cardington High School in 1935.
Her parents were the late Earl and Pansy Newcomer.
Donna married O J Shaffer in 1935 and helped her husband drive school bus
and work on their small farm. Later they moved to Cardington village with their two young children. The house they rented was across from the former Russell Coon Farm.
During World War II Donna worked at the North Electric Plant in Mt Gilead
wiring phone panels. She also worked at the Cardington Kroger store. Later,
she and her husband owned the Cardington Party Store.
Donna was also employed with the Bureau of Motor Vehicles in Mount Gilead
when the registrar was Ethel Shaffer. Other employment included the Mount
Gilead Lumber Yard as a bookkeeper. Donna and her husband and daughter
Leona and her husband Ernie Benedict, also owned the Crystal Ice and Locker in Mount Gilead for several years.
OJ passed away in 1979. Later, she was introduced by Leona to Walter
Dale whom she married. They wintered in Seminole, Florida and summered
in Portland, Indiana. Walter passed away in 2005 and the Benedicts, who
had retired to Portland in 2000, moved in with Donna to help manage her
property.
Donna, a country girl, loved hard work – “her dad thought she had the
work ethic of a boy,” said Leona.
Donna’s health is good. She was a devoted gardener and belonged
to the local Garden Club and although she can no longer hang onto
a needle, she has made many, many quilts during her retirement years. Today, she is an avid reader.
She was honored on her birthday with a family dinner at a local
restaurant with 48 people in attendance. Included were her daughter
and husband and her son, Joel Shaffer and his wife, Dolores, of Schoolcraft,
Michigan, her five grandchildren and 12 great grandchildren.
Congratulatory cards can be sent to Donna Dale at 515 Blaine Pike,
Portland, Indiana 43731.
Donna joins two of her high school classmates reaching the 100 year
mark – Esther Ackerman Cobourn and Martha Kehrwecker Porter.
