Her close friend, Judy Crump, has an idea on what has gotten Hummell to her 105th birthday.
“She’s got a great memory, great sense of humor,” Crump said. “Never complains.”
Crump, 78, first met Hummell in the 80s when both of their mothers were at the same nursing home.
“She’s a delightful, delightful person,” Crump said. “She never grumbles or growls or says, woe unto me.”
Hummell never married or had children, though, Crump said, “She assured me it wasn’t because she didn’t have suitors.”
Hummell chose to live an independent life, and while she never had children, she loves babies. Her birthday party Friday at The Winfield at Middletown, where she lives, was baby themed. The party was coordinated by Hospice Care of Middletown.
Credit: Bryn Dippold
Credit: Bryn Dippold
Gail Corrill, volunteer with Hospice Care of Middletown, said she “never” sees Hummell unhappy.
“She smiles constantly, she loves company,” she said. “This is how she is, all of the time. I’ve never seen her in bed.”
Corrill has known Hummell for three years and attended her 103rd and 104th birthday parties. She visits her at least once a week.
“I always bring her boxes of Kleenexes or some chocolate, two things she loves,” Corrill said.
Hummell also has a sweet tooth for butterscotch pie and Diet Pepsi. One of her church bake sales specialties was cherry pie, and she recalls getting a nickel from her mother during the Great Depression to buy yeast for bread to sell to people or at church to make extra cash.
Credit: Bryn Dippold
Credit: Bryn Dippold
She loves puzzles and, Crump said, Hummell loves the local newspaper.
“You need to know this, it needs to go in your notes: She’s taken the newspaper all her life, she still takes it every day,” Crump said. “Her paper is very important to her.”
For her career, Hummell worked at retail stores and then went back to school at Middletown Business College. She worked at Barnitz Bank until she retired.
Until she was 103, Hummell lived independently, and she makes sure to walk up and down the hallway at The Winfield every day — now with a walker for safety. Her great nieces and nephews visit her frequently.
Kelly King, Hummell’s hospice nurse, said the 105 year old is “truly grateful for the care she receives, for the friends that visit her ... she’s just grateful for life.”
King said she has learned gratitude and also patience from Hummell.
“Try to live a good life and be interested in the good things, and see how they improve,” Hummell said. “Hopefully you live to see the improvements.”
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