Woman celebrates 102 years of memories

An English duke once kissed her hand, and she can remember the day the Titanic sank.
BY REBECCA SLOAN
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
WARREN -- When Ada Burrows doesn't feel like revealing her age, she gives inquirers a smart-aleck answer.
"I tell them I'm as old as my thumb and my little toe," Burrows said, and then adds with a laugh, "And sometimes I tell them that because I can't even remember how old I am!"
Burrows is celebrating her 102nd birthday today, but in many ways she is as spry as someone half her age.
"She still climbs the stairs on her own, she still gets her hair done every Saturday, and she still sings solos at church," said Burrows' 67-year-old daughter, city resident Jean Dager, with whom Burrows makes her home.
"It makes me laugh when I am singing a solo in church and someone points to me and said, 'Shhh. That lady is 100 years old!'" muses Burrows with a twinkle in her eye.
Secret for long life?
Dager said her mother's lively sense of humor might be one of the secrets to her longevity.
"She likes to laugh, and she likes to stay busy. She loves music, and she likes to spend time with children. She likes to keep up with current events, and she is always knitting something for somebody," Dager said.
At the moment, Burrows is working on a blanket, and her knitting needles click rhythmically.
"She doesn't have arthritis, but sometimes she sews a crooked stitch or two," Dager said.
"That's what happens when you're as old as me," Burrows chimes in.
Burrows speaks with a crisp British accent -- a remnant of her roots.
"I was born Nov. 12, 1900, in Cheltenham, England," Burrows explained. "I thought I would have lost my accent by now, but I guess I never will."
Memories
Burrows has many colorful memories of her British girlhood.
When the Titanic sank, she remembers the newsboys standing on the corners, shouting out the horrible headlines, and she remembers the blackouts during World War I.
"I also remember the handsome soldiers in uniform standing around the old cathedrals during World War I. There were always soldiers around the cathedrals because [the government] was afraid [the enemy] would attack these very old, very beautiful buildings," Burrows said.
And Burrows will never forget the time her hand was kissed by an English duke.
"I was a teenager then. I told him I wouldn't wash it for a week," she said, laughing. "It was one of those things you'll never forget, and I never have."
Burrows crossed the Atlantic in 1925 on the Queen Mary. She came to America to be with her fianc & eacute;, John Burrows, who was studying at Bethany College in West Virginia. John was also from Cheltenham, but Burrows had become acquainted with him while he was learning theology from her father, who was also a minister.
When John left West Virginia and headed to Canada to be a minister, she followed him there and became his wife.
"My parents were married in Canada and lived there for a while, but eventually they came back to the United States where my father started the First Community Church of Leavittsburg," Dager explains. He pastored there 21 years.
Burrows said her husband's death in 1955 was the greatest sorrow of her life, but when she recalls their 30 years together, she can't help but tell a funny story.
"He asked me to marry him, and I said rather coolly, 'Let me think about it.' I had been in love with him for a long time, but I decided I'd make him wait a day for an answer. So when he came back the next day, I said very matter-of-factly, 'I've thought about it, and yes, I will marry you,'" Burrows recalls with a smile.
Five children
Burrows had five children with her husband, and every baby -- except the youngest -- was born at home.
When Dager, the third child, was born, the family was living in an old farmhouse in Canada.
"It was Dec. 27, 1934, and there was a bad snowstorm. My mother was sitting there next to a potbelly stove waiting for the doctor, but the doctor was late. The doctor couldn't make it through the storm in his car, so he put on a pair of ice skates and skated down the road to our house," Dager said.
Burrows said she didn't want to have her babies in a hospital because she feared that the hospital would mix up her baby with somebody else's.
After the youngest son, Bill, was born in a hospital in Warren, Burrows thought her fears had become a reality.
"He had hair as red as carrots," Dager said. "For years, he got teased that he was the milkman's son."
Burrows has 12 grandchildren and 25 great-grandchildren. One of the great-grandchildren, Jarett, age 4, was also born Nov. 12.
"We had a party for both of them Sunday," Dager said. "It was hard for my mother to believe it when she turned 100. She still sometimes can't believe she is 102."
Burrows said she has seen a lot in her 102 years, and she thinks the world has changed quite a bit.
"She couldn't believe it when Sept. 11 happened. She kept asking me, "Is this real?'" Dager said.
Burrows doesn't have a secret remedy that she attributes to her long life. "I'm happy," she said. "I've had a lot of fun."