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Volunteer remains active at Akron City Hospital, other women speak of careers
By Jewell Cardwell
Beacon Journal staff writer
Published on Monday, Sep 28, 2009
Unbelievable and unforgettable are just a couple of the adjectives that come to mind in describing a trio of centenarians who came to my attention.
Agnes Bagley
Agnes Bagley is celebrating her 100th birthday with a string of parties.
I caught up with her at the big doings on the labor-and-delivery floor at Akron City Hospital, where she makes her rounds once a week as volunteer. She's been a fixture there since 1997.
''I work 9 [a.m.] to 2 [p.m.],'' she declared. ''I'd be here longer. But my ride leaves at 2.''
The fact that Mrs. Bagley is not entertaining the notion of retirement brings smiles to the faces of secretaries Dolores Young and Rosemary Williams.
Even though she suffers from congestive heart failure, is blind in one eye and has macular degeneration in the other, Mrs. Bagley is undeniably positive. That attitude, alongside being active, she credits for her longevity.
Lots of hugs, flowers and cards (80 from the fourth-grade class at Nolley Elementary School in Manchester alone), cake and a smorgasbord of food greeted this honoree.
Ola Mae Shoemaker, a longtime hospital volunteer, is still pining to have Agnes Bagley back with her in the Volunteer Department where both began.
But Agnes is determined to stay where all the action is: where babies are being born.
''I'm getting a raise, you know,'' she joked. ''I used to get zero. Now, I'm getting double zero.''
Carol Klevenger, a labor and delivery charge nurse, said her granddaughter's classmates had an ulterior motive behind the card
making.
''They want Agnes to visit and tell them about the Titanic,'' Klevenger said.
Mrs. Bagley's father and uncle had a hand in building the famous ship, and she toured it when she was 3 or 4.
The former Agnes McLeod Rankin, a native of Scotland, continues to be active in the Daughters of Scotia.
These days, she gets her exercise moving up and down the hospital's hallways where her duties include patient charting, folding towels and assembling ''Daddy Packs'' (sterile clothing for fathers during Caesarean-section deliveries).
''I just love coming here,'' the irrepressible widow marveled. ''They treat me like I'm something special.''
Mrs. Bagley works one Saturday a month serving soup lunches to the less fortunate at the United Presbyterian Church on Hudson Drive in Cuyahoga Falls.
''I also visit my friend once a week in a nursing home in Stow. I'm there three to four hours . . . I just feel God sent me to do these things,'' she said.
Mrs. Bagley resides with her daughter and son-in-law, Mary Frances and John McKinney, in Silver Lake. She also has three grandchildren.
Mary Ellen Kelley
Mary Ellen Kelley — who is one of Agnes Bagley's dearest friends as well as a Silver Lake neighbor — was feted alongside her friend at a block party in addition to family celebrations.
The honoree was born Sept. 8, 1909, outside Harrisburg, Pa., the second of six children.
''I had a real good Daddy and Mama,'' she reminisced from her wheelchair perch (she broke her hip four years ago).
She moved to Akron when she was 16.
''I wanted to go to nursing school but there just wasn't the money,'' she said. ''So, I called my Aunt Louise in Akron who told me she would pay for me to go to business school if I came to live with her and my uncle. My Dad had me on the train the next day.''
Susan Weiss of Silver Lake said her mother ''excelled at school and became an excellent typist.''
''And I graduated with honors,'' Mrs. Kelley chimed in.
''After finishing school she got a job at General Tire where she became a secretary and was known for her speed typing,'' Weiss said. ''She also modeled cars that showcased the General Tires.''
Mrs. Kelley ''was an excellent seamstress who made all her clothes in her teens and early adult years,'' Weiss noted. ''In her 80s she modeled for Stein Mart.''
Mrs. Kelley — formerly active with Silver Lake Flower Craft Club and the local garden club — is a member of Redeemer Lutheran Church in Cuyahoga Falls. She attends church every Sunday, weather permitting.
Mrs. Kelley's late husband Clarence, an attorney and co-founder/president of Akron's Dixie Ohio Express Trucking Co., had three children — David, Susan Weiss and the late Richard Kelley. She also has six grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
Mrs. Kelley was a longtime volunteer at St. Thomas Hospital, Summit County Children's Home and the Mary Martha Guild at the Church in Silver Lake.
An extremely disciplined person, Mrs. Kelley loves chocolate ''but I only eat one piece a day.''
Connie Antony
Connie Antony was very hard-line about this interview. She was only going to do it if I agreed to put the spotlight on her family's contributions, not hers.
At 104, she's earned that right.
The resident of Stow-Glen Retirement Village had yet another demand: not to give away too much of her story ''because I plan to write a book.''
The former Connie McSherry was born Sept. 24, 1905, in Dayton.
Now visually impaired but mentally sharp, Mrs. Antony recalled, ''At the time of my birth my paternal grandfather — Washington Jefferson McSherry — was living with us. He had been a veteran of the Civil War . . . He served in communications. That meant he was a drummer because there was no radio in the early years.''
Her father worked at Camp Sherman near Chillicothe, ''then he went to the Campbell Soup Co. in Camden, N.J., to examine sabotage . . . He fell 35 feet to the concrete floor. He was sent to the morgue but he recovered. He was only 38 and not able to do any gainful work . . . My mother went to work for Remington Arms, making the triggers. My whole family served active duty.''
She married Glenn Doolittle in 1942. He enlisted in the Navy, where ''he was sent to hull school. Then he was called to active duty. He went to work on the 7th fleet in the Atlantic where he installed radar. It would be 22 months before I ever heard his voice or saw him again.''
Then he got a 30-day leave, after which he was assigned to a ship in the South Pacific. ''I was with him in New Orleans and other places before he and his crew were sent to Virginia Beach for gunnery.''
''Play me down,'' came more instructions for me. ''I was just the stabilizer. He was the one who was all over the world.''
In New Orleans, Mrs. Doolittle went to work as a secretary/accountant for Higgins Industry, which built landing ships.
She spoke of a meeting she took that included two Washington Post writers, Vice President Harry Truman and Matt Connelly. (He later became Truman's appointments secretary when he assumed the presidency.) She has the photos to prove it.
''When Truman dictated the opening speech for Roosevelt's campaign in Los Angeles I was the one who typed it up,'' she reminisced.
She continued working while her husband was repairing ships at sea. Sadly, he died in 1949. ''They said he died of a ruptured appendix but it was parasites,'' she said.
Ultimately, his widow returned to Northeast Ohio and went to work for Ohio Edison in accounting until her retirement in 1968. She later married Canton businessman Harold Antony, who died in 1977.
For a time, Connie Antony held a Florida real estate license. But don't tell anyone, as it might be in her book.
Jewell Cardwell can be reached at 330-996-3567 or jcardwell@thebeaconjournal.com.
Unbelievable and unforgettable are just a couple of the adjectives that come to mind in describing a trio of centenarians who came to my attention.
Get the full article here.
Comments
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Posted 09:08 AM, 09/28/2009
A very interesting group of ladies ... Thank you for sharing with us! And Connie ... I really do hope that you write a book! I would really like to read it ...
Akron, OH
Posted 03:51 PM, 09/28/2009
What a great article about three very beautiful women! Happy birthday to all of you!
Akron, OH
Posted 11:23 PM, 09/28/2009
Oh yeah . . . and folks today complain about going to work and having to pick the kids up from afterschool activities on the same day. Most don't even know how to spell volunteer.
These woman are remarkable . . . achieving all of the things they did without the South Beach diet, botox and a Hybrid Prius.
