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.

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