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Middletown, Del. —
Just because Cornelia Ross turned 100, doesn’t mean she can’t still dance.
On Feb. 22, the Middletown woman took the lead with her dance partners as they stepped to “Sugar Pie Honey Bunch” at the MOT Senior Center during her 100th birthday celebration.
“When I was young, we had a place where we’d dance all night,” Ross, who was born in Port Penn and raised in Middletown said. “They had people play music and I used to dance clean to the floor.”
Even though she can’t boogie to the floor anymore, that doesn’t stop Ross from taping her feet and waltzing in circles. She loves to dance.
On Feb. 22, 1912 Ross was born in Port Penn.
Her parents passed away when she was young, leaving her and her siblings to fend for themselves.
“They dug through the trash and ate worm filled food,” said MOT Senior Center director Cecilia Rozumalski. “She said the worms ran from them!”
Then when she was nine, her aunt who lived on Cedar Lane Road, took her in.
At 14, Ross married her first husband but he succumbed to illness, as did her second husband who she married at 16.
She didn’t marry again until she was in her 40’s.
When she was younger, Ross wanted to be a truck driver, Rozumalski said. She went to Wilmington to learn how to drive trucks, but on the day she received her license and her first job, the aunt who raised her became sick.
Instead of going on the job to Washington, D.C., Ross stayed with her aunt.
“She said she has a clearer conscious today because she stayed with her aunt who took her in instead of going to D.C.,” Rozumalski said.
When Ross’s third husband passed away 20 years ago, she almost lost the home they bought together near Summit Bridge.
But her family didn’t let that happen. Ross’s great nephew and his mother paid the house off.
“If it wasn’t for God and my great nephew, Darren Blackston, I wouldn’t be here,” she said.
Blackston lives with Ross now in the home.
On Feb. 22, 2012, the MOT Senior Center was decorated purple balloons, flowers and other party favors. Ross, who has been coming on a regular basis for 20 years, arrived in a limousine. Her friends filled the center, eating cake and clapping as she danced.
“To me, it’s just another day,” she said. “I don’t feel younger or older.”
Just because Cornelia Ross turned 100, doesn’t mean she can’t still dance.
On Feb. 22, the Middletown woman took the lead with her dance partners as they stepped to “Sugar Pie Honey Bunch” at the MOT Senior Center during her 100th birthday celebration.
“When I was young, we had a place where we’d dance all night,” Ross, who was born in Port Penn and raised in Middletown said. “They had people play music and I used to dance clean to the floor.”
Even though she can’t boogie to the floor anymore, that doesn’t stop Ross from taping her feet and waltzing in circles. She loves to dance.
On Feb. 22, 1912 Ross was born in Port Penn.
Her parents passed away when she was young, leaving her and her siblings to fend for themselves.
“They dug through the trash and ate worm filled food,” said MOT Senior Center director Cecilia Rozumalski. “She said the worms ran from them!”
Then when she was nine, her aunt who lived on Cedar Lane Road, took her in.
At 14, Ross married her first husband but he succumbed to illness, as did her second husband who she married at 16.
She didn’t marry again until she was in her 40’s.
When she was younger, Ross wanted to be a truck driver, Rozumalski said. She went to Wilmington to learn how to drive trucks, but on the day she received her license and her first job, the aunt who raised her became sick.
Instead of going on the job to Washington, D.C., Ross stayed with her aunt.
“She said she has a clearer conscious today because she stayed with her aunt who took her in instead of going to D.C.,” Rozumalski said.
When Ross’s third husband passed away 20 years ago, she almost lost the home they bought together near Summit Bridge.
But her family didn’t let that happen. Ross’s great nephew and his mother paid the house off.
“If it wasn’t for God and my great nephew, Darren Blackston, I wouldn’t be here,” she said.
Blackston lives with Ross now in the home.
On Feb. 22, 2012, the MOT Senior Center was decorated purple balloons, flowers and other party favors. Ross, who has been coming on a regular basis for 20 years, arrived in a limousine. Her friends filled the center, eating cake and clapping as she danced.
“To me, it’s just another day,” she said. “I don’t feel younger or older.”
Ross was crowned with a tiara and named queen for the day by the staff at the Senior Center.
“We wanted to make it special for her,” Rozumalski said. “She’s as much of a part of our family as we are a part of hers.”
Then, a special rendition of Happy Birthday was sung.
And as Ross faced dozens of cupcakes forming a “100,” each with a lit candle in it, two uniformed firefighters from the Middletown Fire Company made their way in, one carrying a fire extinguisher.
Party guests applauded as Sean Webber and Joe Olivero made their way to the table to help Ross with her candles.
Together, the three extinguished the candles and cake was served.
