Current Conditions
55°F - SUNNY
(107) (56) (7)
Ashley must have been very satisfied with her work, because today she is celebrating her 100th birthday.
"I thank the Lord I've lived that long and for the things he taught me. I thank him for everything he did for me," Ashley said.
Ashley's grandfather also lived a century, and her father lived to age 92.
Born on Oct. 6, 1909, in Bridgeton, N.J., Ashley was the second of three daughters of Harry and Bertha Seeds. Her father worked as a carpenter and architect.
Ashley attended a three-room school through 8th grade.
She then attended Bridgeton High School, but never received a diploma.
Instead, as a high school senior, her principal saw her talent for caring for others and asked the local hospital to take her into their nursing training program — the late 1920s equivalent of vo-tech training. Ashley earned her registered nurse degree in 1930. "I liked taking care of patients," Ashley said. "When I told my mother I wanted to go to the hospital and get a job, she was discouraging, but I went anyhow."
Ashley worked as a nurse — mostly in obstetrics — in several New Jersey hospitals, retiring in 1969. When Ashley started delivering the babies of mothers she had delivered, she said, she knew it was time to retire.
Ashley met her husband, Norman, while she worked at a Port Republic, N.J., post office and he worked for the county road department in the same town. The couple wed on Nov. 22, 1937, and had a son, Harry Norman. Ashley now has two grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.
Over the years, Ashley's hobbies have included playing piano and organ, knitting, crocheting and puzzles.
Ashley moved to East Hempfield Township in 1988 after her husband's death.
"She quickly made friends and fit in to a new community without any trouble. … She was the chauffeur for other widows who had lots of fun touring the county — and beyond, sometimes by accident," said Ashley's daughter-in-law, Barbara Ashley.
She moved to Mennonite Home in 2002 after a fall.
